Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lowered by Orleans Capital Management Corp LA

Orleans Capital Management Corp LA lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,744 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,585 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 6.0% of Orleans Capital Management Corp LA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. now owns 2,232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $939,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 11,054 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,651,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 13.6% during the first quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,673 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,807,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 443,736 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $186,625,000 after acquiring an additional 5,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth $5,587,119,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $416.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $468.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $435.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $422.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

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.