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Appleton Partners Inc. MA Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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Appleton Partners Inc. MA grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 122,316 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 2,702 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.5% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA's holdings in Microsoft were worth $45,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $9.47 on Friday, hitting $524.03. 13,043,612 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,325,803. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $488.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $434.13. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.49% and a net margin of 36.15%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 price target (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Microsoft

Microsoft Profile

(Free Report)

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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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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