WestEnd Advisors LLC Sells 5,317 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

WestEnd Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 98,870 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 5,317 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.0% of WestEnd Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. WestEnd Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $37,115,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,375,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,743 shares of company stock worth $24,921,913 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $7.47 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $529.24. 18,664,385 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,189,628. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $499.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $439.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.86.

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.