Gold Investment Management Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• Gold Investment Management Ltd. has reduced its holdings in Microsoft Corporation by 17.7%, now owning 18,493 shares, making it the firm's largest position at approximately $6.94 million.
• Several large investors, including Vanguard Group and Geode Capital Management, have recently increased their stakes in Microsoft, with Vanguard lifting its position by 1.5%.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, which translates to a 0.6% dividend yield, to be paid to stockholders on September 11th.

Gold Investment Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 17.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,493 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,965 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.9% of Gold Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Gold Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fosun International Ltd raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Wedbush upped their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Bank of America raised their price target on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4%

Microsoft stock traded up $7.47 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $529.24. 18,630,436 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,304,484. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.80, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $498.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $438.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Microsoft Company 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.