Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd Sells 77 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,680 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.3% of Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the third quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the third quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 37,189 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,743,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc now owns 708 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC now owns 7,869 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northside Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 33,738 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $7.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $406.32. 29,640,094 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,152,042. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $414.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $387.70. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $295.25 and a 52-week high of $430.82.

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 firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, 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 transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft 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.