Evermay Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Evermay Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,935 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 142 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.4% of Evermay Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Evermay Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Square LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,316,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 18,503 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,270,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 151,706 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $67,805,000 after buying an additional 1,613 shares in the last quarter. JFG Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 29.9% in the 2nd quarter. JFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,395 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allegheny Financial Group LTD grew its stake in Microsoft by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD now owns 20,332 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,088,000 after buying an additional 2,786 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $416.12 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $324.39 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company’s 50 day moving average is $419.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $424.59. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.03, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.74%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.