Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. Reduces Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 74,590 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,732 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.3% of Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $31,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after acquiring an additional 18,052 shares during the period. Centric Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,789,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,980,299,000 after acquiring an additional 217,509 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Mizuho upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $2.29 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $454.86. The company had a trading volume of 17,993,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,550,171. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $399.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $413.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company's 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. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. Company 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.