New England Asset Management Inc. Sells 3,050 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

New England Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 28.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,490 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,050 shares during the quarter. New England Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 7.6% during the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $113,399,000 after buying an additional 18,544 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant's stock worth $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $32,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $2.65 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $444.06. 15,539,488 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,490,811. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $431.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value 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 $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.