Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC Trims Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,980 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,889 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.4% of Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $524.71.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $7.16 during trading on Thursday, reaching $498.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,984,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,692,275. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $457.07 and a 200-day moving average of $423.04. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $500.76.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.