Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Has $261.48 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 620,356 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,219 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.5% of Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $261,480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,334,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was 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 now owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,243 shares of company stock worth $48,619,618 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.30.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $0.70 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $458.17. 15,422,215 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,538,085. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock's fifty day moving average is $396.84 and its 200 day moving average is $412.71. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a P/E/G 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

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.