Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Reduced by Investment Advisory Group LLC

Investment Advisory Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,300 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,664 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.4% of Investment Advisory Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Investment Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Fosun International Ltd raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel raised its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating 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 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.14.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock traded up $3.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $504.59. The company had a trading volume of 7,516,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,623,648. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $469.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $425.41. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $506.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Company 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.