Modern Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 294.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 133,436 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 99,618 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.9% of Modern Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Modern Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $55,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,908,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 124,178 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $53,434,000 after purchasing an additional 7,621 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MSFT traded up $0.98 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $462.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,888,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,432,333. The company's 50-day moving average is $410.44 and its 200-day moving average is $415.29. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.27, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, 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 value of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 132,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,835,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.