Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 195,067 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,372 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 4.0% of Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI's holdings in Microsoft were worth $73,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fosun International Ltd grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $530.00 price objective (up previously from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $534.14.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

MSFT traded up $1.84 on Friday, hitting $503.32. The company had a trading volume of 16,454,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,673,776. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.90, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $506.78. The company's fifty day moving average price is $470.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $425.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.