Financial & Tax Architects LLC Sells 578 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Financial & Tax Architects LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,859 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 578 shares during the period. Financial & Tax Architects LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Security Advisor Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,255,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,089,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,497,000 after acquiring an additional 5,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after acquiring an additional 6,484 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. 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 company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $394.94 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $414.03 and a 200 day moving average of $389.48. The company has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $303.40 and a 1-year high of $430.82. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

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.