MBL Wealth LLC Sells 730 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

MBL Wealth LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,989 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 730 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.9% of MBL Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. MBL Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 2,663 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $646,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sicart Associates LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, 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. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $7.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $406.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 29,640,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,152,042. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $295.25 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $388.51.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Microsoft Company 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.