Donaldson Capital Management LLC Sells 28,042 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 275,414 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 28,042 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.8% of Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $115,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 23.7% in the 4th 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, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $7.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $406.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 29,640,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,152,042. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $295.25 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $387.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale 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 Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

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.