Novare Capital Management LLC Sells 692 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Novare Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 119,604 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 692 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.2% of Novare Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Novare Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $50,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Pensioenfonds Rail & OV raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pensioenfonds Rail & OV now owns 135,047 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $60,359,000 after purchasing an additional 31,742 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,486,000. Finally, Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd now owns 49,914 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $22,309,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.6 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $388.56 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $376.91 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a fifty day moving average of $412.43 and a 200-day moving average of $420.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.