ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,128 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 177 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.5% of ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 82,267 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,976,000 after acquiring an additional 3,209 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,497,000 after acquiring an additional 5,366 shares during the last quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.7% in the third quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,516,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $434.05.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $400.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $414.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $386.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $275.37 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.12%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.