Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Palumbo Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft Corporation by 16.6% during the first quarter, owning 20,022 shares valued at approximately $7.5 million.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with Jefferies Financial Group setting a new target of $675 and three analysts rating the stock as a hold, while thirty have given a buy rating.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.6%, with a payout ratio of 24.34%.

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,022 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,851 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.5% of Palumbo Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Newton One Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $9.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $524.11. 28,948,527 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,331,950. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.42, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. The business's fifty day moving average is $489.94 and its 200-day moving average is $434.88. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was 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 directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock valued at $27,520,933. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.