Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC's 4th Largest Position

Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC reduced its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,796 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 548 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.3% of Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $494.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $551.21.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $513.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.70, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $518.29. The company's fifty day moving average price is $483.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $431.47. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors 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 yield of 0.65%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last quarter. 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.

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