Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Keeler Thomas Management LLC

Keeler Thomas Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,517 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 644 shares during the quarter. Keeler Thomas Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 160.7% in the fourth quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Family CFO Inc lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 13.6% in the third 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Macquarie boosted their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $454.70.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $430.52 on Thursday. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $416.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $397.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.27, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $309.45 and a 52-week high of $432.97.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.