Vontobel Holding Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 10.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,706,633 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 420,344 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.1% of Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,391,433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,496,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,345,000 after buying an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,075,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $522.48 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 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 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $501.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $440.51.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company'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 value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 46,350 shares of company stock valued at $21,493,447. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

About Microsoft

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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