Coston McIsaac & Partners Sells 3,566 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Coston McIsaac & Partners cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 30.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,334 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,566 shares during the period. Coston McIsaac & Partners’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. IFS Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $391.26 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $376.91 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $408.82 and a 200-day moving average of $419.67. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.