Aviance Capital Partners LLC Increases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,230 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,266 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.3% of Aviance Capital Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Aviance Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares during the period. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,334,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $3.80 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $452.94. 19,864,490 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,511,825. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $391.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $411.86. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.47, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.