swisspartners Advisors Ltd increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 885.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,306 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 5,666 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.2% of swisspartners Advisors Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. swisspartners Advisors Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%
Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $520.84 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $495.59 and a 200-day moving average of $437.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.06.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.
View Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
Insider Activity
In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,743 shares of company stock worth $24,921,913 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
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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