Goldstone Financial Group LLC Acquires 1,406 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 18.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,194 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,406 shares during the quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BigSur Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,972 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,993,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 42.8% during the 1st quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 1,030,688 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $386,910,000 after purchasing an additional 309,099 shares during the last quarter. Steele Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Steele Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,563 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,467,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Kelly Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Kelly Financial Group LLC now owns 9,902 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RTD Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. RTD Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the software giant's stock worth $729,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $541.79.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $1.65 on Friday, reaching $510.05. 21,075,124 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,610,163. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $515.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $476.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $427.88.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

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.