Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is JGP Wealth Management LLC's 3rd Largest Position

JGP Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 74,586 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.7% of JGP Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. JGP Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,999,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, 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 sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% 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 worth $60,224,683 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $521.14.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $495.94 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $499.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $449.47 and a 200 day moving average of $422.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.33, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during 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%. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

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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