John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,981 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,595 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.0% of John G Ullman & Associates Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. 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 worth $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth 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 during the period. Sequent Asset Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant's stock worth $853,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,380,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverstone Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,941,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $433.31 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $386.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $411.27. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.89, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

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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