Ashford Capital Management Inc. Has $7.80 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ashford Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,510 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,100 shares during the quarter. Ashford Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Collective Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Collective Family Office LLC now owns 7,332 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,090,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 117,366 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $49,470,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $478.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.94, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $432.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $419.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $480.69.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

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.

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