GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 73,446 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.3% of GHP Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of MSFT opened at $524.11 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $489.94 and a 200 day moving average of $434.94. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. TD Securities raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Company 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.

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