Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC Sells 273 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,355 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 273 shares during the quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $75,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

MSFT opened at $423.46 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $420.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.53.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.