Drive Wealth Management LLC Has $10.06 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Drive Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,917 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 361 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.8% of Drive Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Drive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,062,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 9.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $9,625,201,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $7.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $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 stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $295.25 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $414.48 and a 200 day moving average of $387.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

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.