Valley Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Valley Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,334 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 75 shares during the period. Valley Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 124,412 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $53,535,000 after acquiring an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,186 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,141,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Kitching Partners LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $481,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% during the third quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 612,455 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $263,539,000 after purchasing an additional 12,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass More Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 42.5% in the 3rd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 5,673 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,441,000 after buying an additional 1,692 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $412.37 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $432.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

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.