Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Sells 3,523 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 180,258 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,523 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 7.9% of Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $75,979,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,380,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverstone Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,941,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $10.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $435.42. 21,028,654 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,310,666. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock's 50-day moving average is $384.18 and its 200-day moving average is $411.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.