Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Sells 1,876 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,265 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,876 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.1% of Schechter Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $438.73. 15,313,766 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,454,441. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $389.19 and a 200 day moving average of $411.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

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.