Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Has $25.43 Million Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 13.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,453 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 7,936 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.0% of Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,375,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Oppenheimer raised shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four 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, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $541.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $510.05 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $477.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $428.49. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $514.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. 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.

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