Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,081 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 144 shares during the period. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% 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. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $524.71.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $491.09 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $500.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $457.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.04. The stock has a market cap of $3.65 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.95, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Microsoft Company 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.