Mackenzie Financial Corp Increases Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,680,071 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 510,820 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.1% of Mackenzie Financial Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned 0.08% of Microsoft worth $2,394,150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $1.10 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $478.04. 15,377,602 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,494,151. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.03. 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 50-day moving average of $432.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $419.32. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $480.69.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.