Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC Buys 667 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 13.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,766 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.8% of Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have 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%

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $1.21 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $512.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,290,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,824,139. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $484.59 and a 200 day moving average of $432.22. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $518.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.61, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $555.86.

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.