Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Increased by Ayrshire Capital Management LLC

Ayrshire Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,101 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,906 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 5.7% of Ayrshire Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Four equities 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $534.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Monday, hitting $503.02. The stock had a trading volume of 12,049,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,635,317. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $506.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.87, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company's 50-day moving average price is $471.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.18.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 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.