Allegheny Financial Group Reduces Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Allegheny Financial Group reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,485 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 955 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.2% of Allegheny Financial Group's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Allegheny Financial Group's holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Scotiabank increased their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays increased their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James increased their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

MSFT stock traded down $3.91 on Friday, reaching $474.96. 16,804,288 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,539,207. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $480.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $428.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $418.58.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.