HWG Holdings LP Sells 13,905 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• HWG Holdings LP has decreased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) by 27.5%, now holding 36,691 shares, making it the firm’s 4th largest position at 6.1% of its portfolio.
• Multiple institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings, with GAMMA Investing LLC raising its stake by 40,290.4%, acquiring nearly 46.6 million shares valued at approximately $17.5 billion.
• Microsoft recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, reflecting a 0.6% yield and a payout ratio of 24.34%.

HWG Holdings LP reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 27.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,691 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 13,905 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 6.1% of HWG Holdings LP's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. HWG Holdings LP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $9.39 on Friday, hitting $524.11. The company had a trading volume of 28,948,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,331,950. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $489.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $434.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.42, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock valued at $27,520,933. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

About Microsoft

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.