Kercheville Advisors LLC Sells 4,835 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kercheville Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 19.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,496 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,835 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.1% of Kercheville Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Kercheville Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position 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. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,375,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock traded up $6.33 on Thursday, hitting $512.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,549,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,218,043. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $481.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $430.27. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $514.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $548.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft 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.