Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Decreased by Vahanian & Associates Financial Planning Inc.

Vahanian & Associates Financial Planning Inc. cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,271 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 875 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.9% of Vahanian & Associates Financial Planning Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Vahanian & Associates Financial Planning Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,625,201,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $679,928,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Microsoft by 9.2% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,749,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,956 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Microsoft Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $389.33 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $303.40 and a one year high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $414.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $389.44.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two 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 $452.61.

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.