Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Warwick Investment Management Inc.

Warwick Investment Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,086 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 540 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 0.5% of Warwick Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Warwick Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings 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 worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings 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 worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,334,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 94,243 shares of company stock worth $41,288,738 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

Microsoft stock opened at $454.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $395.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $412.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.58, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.30.

About Microsoft

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.