Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Has $30.95 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,445 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,901 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.2% of Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $9.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $488.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $434.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The stock 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 33.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson increased their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush increased their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp raised Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was 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 $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft 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.