Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Nova R Wealth Inc.

Nova R Wealth Inc. reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,810 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 363 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.1% of Nova R Wealth Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Nova R Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,024,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,000,376,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $446.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $456.17. The company’s fifty day moving average is $424.11 and its 200-day moving average is $409.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 target price (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Macquarie increased their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $467.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value 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 $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.