Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lowered by Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,956 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,206 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.0% of Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,867,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first 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. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business'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 directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. 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 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock traded up $1.84 during trading on Friday, reaching $503.32. 16,454,184 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,652,165. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $506.78. The company's fifty day moving average price is $470.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $425.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer upgraded Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $530.00 price objective (up previously from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group restated a "positive" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $534.14.

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.