Cohen Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cohen Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3,916.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 642,801 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 626,796 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 6.3% of Cohen Investment Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $241,301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in 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, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,350 shares of company stock valued at $21,493,447 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

Microsoft stock traded up $1.46 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $522.04. The stock had a trading volume of 13,172,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,226,391. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $500.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $439.91. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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 0.6%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

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.