Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Avanza Fonder AB

Avanza Fonder AB decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 10.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 463,434 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 52,728 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 5.9% of Avanza Fonder AB's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Avanza Fonder AB's holdings in Microsoft were worth $177,097,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $3.65 on Tuesday, hitting $506.67. 9,373,173 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,588,720. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $471.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.14, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $508.28. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. DA Davidson raised their target price 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 raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $534.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.