Provident Wealth Management LLC Has $823,000 Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Provident Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,955 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Provident Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $4.07 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $402.25. 19,566,752 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,087,611. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $303.40 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $414.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $389.01. The firm has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

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.