Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Monetta Financial Services Inc.'s 6th Largest Position

Monetta Financial Services Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,000 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 5.4% of Monetta Financial Services Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Monetta Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management raised its stake in Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued 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 an average price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1%

MSFT traded up $0.40 on Friday, reaching $459.08. 7,351,179 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,529,499. The company's 50 day moving average is $407.73 and its 200-day moving average is $414.89. The company has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.97, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is 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.