N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC Sells 426 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,118 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 426 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co now owns 36,946 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,898,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the period. Finally, Patten Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 44,217 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,027,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $395.16 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $407.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $419.53. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $376.91 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

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.