Fernwood Investment Management LLC Trims Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fernwood Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,023 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 553 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.9% of Fernwood Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Fernwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its stake in Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $438.73 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $389.19 and a 200 day moving average of $411.54. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.