Midland Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Midland Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,452 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 934 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.7% of Midland Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Midland Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,807,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Scotiabank increased their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $534.14.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4%

MSFT traded down $2.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $501.48. 16,466,043 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,666,022. The firm's fifty day moving average is $467.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $424.96. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $506.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.75, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.