Golden Road Advisors LLC Purchases 960 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Golden Road Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 52.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,776 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 960 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.8% of Golden Road Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Golden Road Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,042,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $581.00 price objective (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $551.21.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $2.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $513.71. The stock had a trading volume of 19,103,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,594,816. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $518.29. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $483.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $431.52. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given 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 of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.