Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by New Century Financial Group LLC

New Century Financial Group LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 82.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,907 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 13,475 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.3% of New Century Financial Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. New Century Financial Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 24,797 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,308,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the first quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,256 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,352,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Krilogy Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.6% in the first quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 51,863 shares of the software giant's stock worth $19,469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 55,674 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318 shares during the period. Finally, CCM Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the first quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 70,877 shares of the software giant's stock worth $26,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,242 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $581.00 price objective (up from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $541.79.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $1.65 during trading on Friday, reaching $510.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,120,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,618,181. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $514.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $477.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $428.54.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were 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 owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last three months. 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.