Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Western Financial Corp CA

Western Financial Corp CA reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 60.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 552 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 858 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA's holdings in Microsoft were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,496,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,345,000 after buying an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,075,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $1.20 on Friday, hitting $522.04. 15,514,819 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,343,549. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $495.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $437.64.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 the business's 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.