Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd Lowers Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 33.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,000 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,000 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.8% of Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 period. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $3.80 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $452.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,864,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,511,825. 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $391.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $411.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Microsoft 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.