BCK Partners Inc. Sells 474 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BCK Partners Inc. decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 37.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 787 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 474 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.2% of BCK Partners Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. BCK Partners Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 26,471 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,937,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 2,349 shares of the software giant's stock worth $882,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Strid Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. Strid Group LLC now owns 1,481 shares of the software giant's stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. now owns 178,909 shares of the software giant's stock worth $67,161,000 after purchasing an additional 4,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc now owns 8,553 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,540 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Mizuho upped their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $529.24 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $499.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $439.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

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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