Privium Fund Management B.V. Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Privium Fund Management B.V. lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,000 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 5,000 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 0.5% of Privium Fund Management B.V.'s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Privium Fund Management B.V.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $141,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's 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 directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $1.32 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $458.68. 13,971,400 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,584,780. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company's 50 day moving average is $407.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $414.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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 (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $513.13.

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.