Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,471 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 407 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 7.2% of Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $69,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT traded up $7.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $406.32. 29,640,094 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,152,042. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $414.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $387.70. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a PEG 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. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 target price (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

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.