First Horizon Advisors Inc. Sells 2,581 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 157,600 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,581 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.0% of First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $78,392,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 155.7% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.33.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $478.54 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.04, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $508.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $500.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.89%.

Microsoft 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.