Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Ascent Group LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,104 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 3,952 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.0% of Ascent Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $40,087,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.68.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

MSFT opened at $480.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $481.00. The business's 50 day moving average is $436.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $420.16. 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. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Microsoft Company 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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