ERn Financial LLC Sells 511 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

ERn Financial LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,641 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 511 shares during the quarter. ERn Financial LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $581.00 target price (up from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $551.21.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $513.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $518.29. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $483.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $431.47. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.70, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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