Symphony Financial Services Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Symphony Financial Services Inc. reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 20.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,613 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,939 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.6% of Symphony Financial Services Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Symphony Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. LVZ Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. LVZ Inc. now owns 4,329 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,825,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. BCM Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. BCM Advisors LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the software giant's stock worth $608,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,663,502 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $701,166,000 after purchasing an additional 103,961 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 16,294 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 35.5% in the fourth quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 10,810 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,592,000 after buying an additional 2,832 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $449.14. The stock had a trading volume of 22,927,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,468,471. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.16, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $390.16 and a 200 day moving average of $411.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. Equities 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.