Sollinda Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sollinda Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 58.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,375 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,932 shares during the quarter. Sollinda Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $9,625,201,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $7.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $406.32. The company had a trading volume of 29,640,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,152,042. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $414.48 and its 200 day moving average is $387.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $295.25 and a twelve month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

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.