Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lowered by Bay Rivers Group

Bay Rivers Group reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,631 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 317 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.1% of Bay Rivers Group’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Bay Rivers Group’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Caliber Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Microsoft by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 67,307 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,252,000 after acquiring an additional 13,586 shares during the period. Advance Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,958 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,144,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 108,149 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $34,495,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Three 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Down 3.2 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $12.92 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $389.33. 28,721,275 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,169,949. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $303.40 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.71, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $414.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $389.44. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.