Legacy Financial Group LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,951 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 674 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity
In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Microsoft Price Performance
Microsoft stock opened at $495.94 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $499.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $449.47 and a 200-day moving average of $421.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.33, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their price objective 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 thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $521.14.
View Our Latest Analysis on MSFT
About Microsoft
(
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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