Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Boosted by Cottage Street Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Cottage Street Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 24.3%, owning a total of 26,150 shares valued at approximately $9.8 million.
• Despite some insider selling, Microsoft has seen an increase in positive analyst ratings, with Goldman Sachs raising their price target from $480 to $550.
• Microsoft recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83, representing an annual yield of 0.65%, with a payout ratio of 25.66%.

Cottage Street Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 24.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,150 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 5,118 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 4.7% of Cottage Street Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Cottage Street Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Securities increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $598.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $21.65 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $534.89. 22,422,721 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,175,734. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $486.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $433.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $3.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.43, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

About Microsoft

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.