Conning Inc. Sells 1,527 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

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Conning Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 56,701 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,527 shares during the period. Conning Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their target price on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.10 on Tuesday. 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 one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $503.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $441.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 30,350 shares of company stock worth $14,162,567. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft 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.

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