Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Investment House LLC's 3rd Largest Position

Investment House LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 227,184 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 6,443 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.2% of Investment House LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Investment House LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $95,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings 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 during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second 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 period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 730 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of MSFT traded down $3.33 on Wednesday, reaching $457.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,984,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,567,190. 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 twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.82, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $405.09 and a 200-day moving average of $414.29.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 now owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $513.13.

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.