Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC Sells 144 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,448 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 144 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.3% of Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,094,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $6,816,000. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 177.0% during the fourth quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 33,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,544,000 after acquiring an additional 21,317 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 194,714 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $73,220,000 after acquiring an additional 32,854 shares during the last quarter. Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. now owns 9,891 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,719,000 after purchasing an additional 3,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cook Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. Cook Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 7,624 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,434 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $408.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.36, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $428.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $422.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Mizuho lifted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Macquarie raised their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $506.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average 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.