Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Marietta Wealth Management LLC

Marietta Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 47,502 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 2,613 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.6% of Marietta Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Marietta Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake 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 period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen upped their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $9.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $524.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,043,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,325,803. The stock has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. 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 company's fifty day simple moving average is $488.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $434.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.49% and a net margin of 36.15%. The company's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.