Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Lowered by Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC

Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,544 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,193 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 6.5% of Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the third quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.7% in the third quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.9% in the third quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,162 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,893,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Landmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $1,080,000. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,433 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,294,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $394.94 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $303.40 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The company has a 50-day moving average of $414.03 and a 200 day moving average of $389.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.75 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.