Surience Private Wealth LLC Decreases Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• Surience Private Wealth LLC significantly reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 89.8% in the first quarter, selling 9,921 shares and now owning only 1,132 shares worth $425,000.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Microsoft, with multiple firms increasing their price targets, bringing the consensus rating to "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $609.86.
• Microsoft recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, reflecting a 0.6% dividend yield, with the payment set for September 11th to shareholders on record as of August 21st.

Surience Private Wealth LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 89.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,132 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 9,921 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.7% of Surience Private Wealth LLC's holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Surience Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 288,455 shares of the software giant's stock worth $108,283,000 after buying an additional 1,192 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.8% in the first quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC now owns 4,949 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,858,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. TPG Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the first quarter. TPG Advisors LLC now owns 8,156 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,062,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 107,986 shares of the software giant's stock worth $40,537,000 after purchasing an additional 15,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,953 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,361,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT traded up $1.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $522.04. 15,514,819 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,782,852. The company has a market cap of $3.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company's 50-day moving average price is $496.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $438.17. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The business's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

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.