Goelzer Investment Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

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Goelzer Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 83,801 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,110 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.8% of Goelzer Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Goelzer Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $31,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fosun International Ltd boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Guidance Point Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 533 shares of the software giant's stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $517.10 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $503.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $441.90. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,350 shares of company stock valued at $14,162,567 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Company 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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