Adero Partners LLC Buys 4,484 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Adero Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 21.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 25,609 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 4,484 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.6% of Adero Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Adero Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Oppenheimer upgraded Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $550.14.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $5.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $510.88. 16,074,043 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,868,408. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.48, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $482.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $430.84. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $514.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.