FORA Capital LLC Sells 29,376 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

FORA Capital LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 63.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,567 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 29,376 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.9% of FORA Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised 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 bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0%

Microsoft stock opened at $478.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $504.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $502.34. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $632.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim set a $675.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $632.34.

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.