Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC Sells 22,261 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 51.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,095 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 22,261 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.0% of Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $87,000. Cordant Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 647.8% during the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Family CFO Inc increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $146,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Macquarie upped their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 price objective (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $414.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $389.01. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $303.40 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

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.