Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s 2nd Largest Position

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 203,428 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 724 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.1% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $76,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price target (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one 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 $612.54.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $517.10 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company's 50 day moving average is $503.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $441.90. The company has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,350 shares of company stock worth $14,162,567 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.

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