Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 202,810 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 9,159 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.5% of Capital Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $76,133,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during 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. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Trading Down 0.2%
Microsoft stock opened at $496.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $465.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $424.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.38, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $500.76.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" 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 assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $524.71.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
Microsoft Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report).
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