Helen Stephens Group LLC Sells 122 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Helen Stephens Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,477 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 122 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.6% of Helen Stephens Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Helen Stephens Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $397.12 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $422.62. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total value of $874,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 51,852 shares in the company, valued at $22,675,916.64. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 7,000 shares of company stock worth $3,070,340 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.