Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 9,317 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 30.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,650 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 9,317 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 4.8% of Sentry Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Sentry Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kwmg LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 20,498 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,695,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 58,917 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $22,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Swisher Financial Concepts Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 29.1% in the 1st quarter. Swisher Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 10,499 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,941,000 after purchasing an additional 2,367 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 250,768 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $94,136,000 after purchasing an additional 29,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 69.9% in the 1st quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

MSFT opened at $495.94 on Monday. The business's 50 day moving average is $449.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $421.74. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $499.30. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $521.14.

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.

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