Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by McHugh Group LLC

McHugh Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,129 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,125 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 7.7% of McHugh Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. McHugh Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of MSFT traded up $2.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $513.71. The stock had a trading volume of 19,103,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,594,816. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $518.29. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $483.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $431.47. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.70, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued 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 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%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $530.00 price target (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $551.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's 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 sale, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.