Olstein Capital Management L.P. Sells 2,500 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 19.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,500 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,948,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sicart Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,592 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $599,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Triton Wealth Management PLLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Triton Wealth Management PLLC now owns 5,864 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,167,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $692,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie raised their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $394.94 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $303.40 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $414.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $389.48.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.75 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.