Valmark Advisers Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• Valmark Advisers Inc. decreased its stock holdings in Microsoft Corporation by 4.9%, owning 59,280 shares now worth $22,253,000 after selling 3,058 shares.
• Microsoft reported a quarterly earnings of $3.65 EPS, surpassing analysts' expectations, with revenue totaling $76.44 billion and an 18.1% year-over-year increase.
• The company has recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share to be paid on September 11th, representing an annualized yield of 0.6%.

Valmark Advisers Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,280 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,058 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fosun International Ltd lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,368,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $524.11 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $489.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $434.88.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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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