GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Sells 660 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,077 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 660 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.4% of GLOBALT Investments LLC GA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA's holdings in Microsoft were worth $37,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,335,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,385,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of MSFT traded down $4.68 during mid-day 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 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $402.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $413.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673. 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.