Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Decreased by Ashton Thomas Securities LLC

Key Points

• Ashton Thomas Securities LLC reduced its Microsoft stake by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,697 shares and ending with 30,807 shares worth about $14.9 million.
• Microsoft’s latest earnings beat expectations, with EPS of $4.27 versus $4.06 expected and revenue of $82.89 billion, up 18.3% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, while analysts remain broadly upbeat with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $560.88.

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,807 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,697 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.8% of Ashton Thomas Securities LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,914,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 5.4%

Microsoft stock opened at $450.24 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $402.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $434.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $356.28 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia teased “a new era of PC,” with reports pointing to new Surface hardware and a possible AI-focused chip announcement at Computex, which could refresh the Windows/PC upgrade cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft will unveil a new coding model and other in-house AI tools at next week’s Build conference reinforce the company’s AI monetization story and support sentiment around GitHub Copilot and Azure demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings backdrop remains solid, with revenue growth of 18.3% and better-than-expected EPS, helping investors justify the stock’s premium valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish writeups and analyst commentary say MSFT still has room to run because Azure, M365 cloud, and AI revenue are expanding faster than the broader software market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also drawing attention from investors, fund managers, and even congressional buyers, which supports the stock’s defensive-growth reputation but does not change fundamentals on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: A TechCrunch report says Microsoft is facing backlash for threatening a security researcher over unpatched bugs and code disclosure, adding some reputational noise ahead of Build. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Arete Research upped their price target on Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, May 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $525.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Microsoft to $502.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.88.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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