Absher Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• Absher Wealth Management LLC reduced its Microsoft holdings by 1.1% in Q1, owning 87,876 shares worth about $32.99 million.
• Insider selling activity included 6,000 shares sold by Bradford L. Smith and 13,243 shares sold by Amy Coleman totaling over $8.5 million in transactions.
• Wall Street analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with estimates now ranging from $490.00 to $600.00, reflecting strong confidence in the stock's performance.

Absher Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,876 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 937 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.3% of Absher Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Absher Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,988,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after acquiring an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

MSFT stock traded down $9.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $524.11. The stock had a trading volume of 28,948,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,331,950. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $489.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $434.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.42, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen raised Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

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.