St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC Sells 1,824 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,363 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,824 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.1% of St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 181.2% in the third quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,650 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,607,000 after purchasing an additional 15,883 shares during the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 70,938 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $30,525,000 after buying an additional 6,976 shares during the period. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,000 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,443,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 78,720 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $33,873,000 after buying an additional 1,026 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 304,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $131,013,000 after acquiring an additional 4,018 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $436.60 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $427.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.42. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $508.46.

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.