Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lessened by Modus Advisors LLC

Modus Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,197 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.4% of Modus Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Modus Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $9,625,201,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $446.34 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $419.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $406.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $450.94. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $465.83.

Microsoft Company 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.