Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by CWC Advisors LLC.

CWC Advisors LLC. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 68.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,477 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,626 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.4% of CWC Advisors LLC.'s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. CWC Advisors LLC.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,431,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,075,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $9.32 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $519.92. The company had a trading volume of 12,415,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,236,322. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $499.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $439.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho upped their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,743 shares of company stock worth $24,921,913 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft 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.