Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC Sells 17,486 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 55.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,255 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 17,486 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.0% of Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC's holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays increased their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $2.84 during trading on Friday, reaching $477.40. 37,241,095 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,515,262. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $483.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $437.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $420.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.