Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC trimmed its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,955 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 726 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 0.8% of Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during 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 during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research 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 Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $503.32 on Monday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $470.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $425.67. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $506.78. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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