Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 22.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,916 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,032 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.1% of Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,345,000 after buying an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $515.68.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $474.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $428.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $418.65. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $480.42.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.