Hobart Private Capital LLC Purchases 1,341 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hobart Private Capital LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 61.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,533 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,341 shares during the period. Hobart Private Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd 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 boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd 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 period. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders grew its position in Microsoft by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 49,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,931,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $1.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $495.94. 33,955,963 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,627,079. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $499.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.33, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $446.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $421.75.

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. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $521.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.