Blankinship & Foster LLC Has $1.16 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Blankinship & Foster LLC trimmed its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 92.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,750 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 33,519 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.3% of Blankinship & Foster LLC's holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Blankinship & Foster LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its position in Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $141,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $453.13. 21,913,513 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,510,806. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $392.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $412.14. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $509.16.

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.