Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 27,129 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,018 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.4% of Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson upped 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $534.14.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT traded down $2.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $501.48. 16,466,043 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,678,724. The company's 50-day moving average is $469.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $425.41. The company has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $506.78.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

About Microsoft

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.