Centaurus Financial Inc. Acquires 7,514 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 10.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 78,825 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 7,514 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.0% of Centaurus Financial Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Centaurus Financial Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $33,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. 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, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.68.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was 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 now owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $4.11 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $490.11. The company had a trading volume of 22,297,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,554,639. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $491.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $439.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $420.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

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.