Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 28,241 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 801,439 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 28,241 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.9% of Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $300,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $555.86.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT traded down $1.21 during trading on Monday, hitting $512.50. 14,290,681 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,824,139. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.61, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $518.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $484.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $432.22. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% 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 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.