Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Moran Wealth Management LLC's 5th Largest Position

Moran Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 110,305 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 3,789 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.4% of Moran Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Moran Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $41,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8%

MSFT stock opened at $524.11 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company's 50 day moving average is $489.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $435.01. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

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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