Alta Fox Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Alta Fox Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 323.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 61,800 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 47,200 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 9.3% of Alta Fox Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 471.4% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 5,812,933 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,366,153,000 after purchasing an additional 4,795,536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock traded down $1.10 on Tuesday, reaching $478.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,377,602 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,491,260. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $480.69. The business's fifty day moving average price is $430.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $418.94. The company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business 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%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.