Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Sells 2,317 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,956 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,317 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.1% of Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Microsoft by 67.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Microsoft by 46.1% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,032,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,483 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,203,211.24. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $5.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $410.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,673,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,098,506. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $425.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.79.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 26.73%.

Microsoft 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.