Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,458 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,837 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.6% of Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $712,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Sonen Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sonen Capital LLC now owns 10,132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. now owns 937 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Noble Family Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Noble Family Wealth LLC now owns 2,331 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price target on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Macquarie increased their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $431.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $411.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.24, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $415.48 and its 200 day moving average is $384.15. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $275.37 and a 1-year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

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.