Whitcomb & Hess Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Whitcomb & Hess Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,239 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 247 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.3% of Whitcomb & Hess Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Whitcomb & Hess Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased 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 valued at $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,591,126,000 after acquiring an additional 277,881 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $459.28 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $459.59. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $425.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $410.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.76, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $467.12.

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.