Marquette Asset Management LLC Buys 527 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 69.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,281 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $481,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $1,375,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued 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 $521.14.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $495.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $499.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $449.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $421.93.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.