Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by West Paces Advisors Inc.

West Paces Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,013 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 712 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.1% of West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,029,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Rebalance LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,542,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Partnership Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Doheny Asset Management CA boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, New Street Research started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.1 %

MSFT opened at $423.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $424.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $423.06. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

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

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.