Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC Reduces Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC cut its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 22.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,425 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,105 shares during the period. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 155.7% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 29.9% in the 2nd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $491.02 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $506.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $501.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Melius Research boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $632.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.