Souders Financial Advisors Decreases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Souders Financial Advisors trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 25,253 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,944 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.5% of Souders Financial Advisors' investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Souders Financial Advisors' holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in 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 last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT traded up $0.56 during trading on Friday, reaching $438.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,313,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,454,441. The company has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $389.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $411.63. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm 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 quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's 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 now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.