Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Stokes Capital Advisors LLC

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,384 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 982 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.8% of Stokes Capital Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,274,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,345,000 after buying an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $530.00 target price (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $524.71.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $2.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $495.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,261,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,615,771. The company has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $500.76. The business's 50-day moving average is $463.54 and its 200-day moving average is $423.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.