Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,208 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,195 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV's holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $4.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $450.18. The company had a trading volume of 16,874,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,548,957. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $402.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $413.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.