Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Decreases Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 76.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,595 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 33,649 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.2% of Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,854,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were 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 owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $524.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $489.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $434.94. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

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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