GoalVest Advisory LLC Has $4.39 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,692 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 724 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.2% of GoalVest Advisory LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. GoalVest Advisory LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $490.11 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.88, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $441.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $420.91. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $491.85.

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 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders 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 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $565.00 price objective (up previously from $515.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

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.

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