Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's 3rd Largest Position

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 275,383 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 6,055 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.1% of NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $103,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $538.04.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT traded up $6.75 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $512.37. The stock had a trading volume of 8,677,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,579,065. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $513.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.63, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company's 50-day moving average is $474.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $427.28.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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 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 yield of 0.65%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.