Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Delta Asset Management LLC TN

Delta Asset Management LLC TN cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 427,102 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,685 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 18.5% of Delta Asset Management LLC TN’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Delta Asset Management LLC TN’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $212,445,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the first quarter worth $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,338,953 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,521,349,000 after acquiring an additional 6,101,005 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of MSFT opened at $483.16 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $507.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $501.25. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Mizuho lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $632.34.

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.