Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Trimmed by Providence Wealth Advisors LLC

Providence Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,907 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,014 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 6.9% of Providence Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,922,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business'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 now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,835,683 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

MSFT traded up $0.90 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $463.87. The company had a trading volume of 14,135,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,449,429. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $411.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $415.62.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

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.