Warther Private Wealth LLC Lowers Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Warther Private Wealth LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 45.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,861 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 9,204 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.3% of Warther Private Wealth LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Warther Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fosun International Ltd raised its stake 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 buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,368,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Oppenheimer upgraded Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $543.79.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT traded down $0.37 on Monday, hitting $509.68. 10,165,228 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,587,686. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. The business's fifty day moving average is $477.78 and its 200 day moving average is $428.61. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $514.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors 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 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.