FreeGulliver LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

FreeGulliver LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 27.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,304 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 869 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.5% of FreeGulliver LLC's holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. FreeGulliver LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank boosted its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,908,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% 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 worth $58,375,673 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.3%

Microsoft stock traded up $10.51 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $460.69. The stock had a trading volume of 20,932,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,585,267. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $403.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $414.03. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.09, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

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.