Investment Advisory Group LLC decreased 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 & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,300 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,664 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.4% of Investment Advisory Group LLC's investment portfolio, 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 quarter.
A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,982 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Everest Management Corp. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Everest Management Corp. now owns 9,089 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,412,000 after acquiring an additional 1,640 shares during the period. Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $21,129,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 153,358 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,569,000 after acquiring an additional 2,087 shares during the period. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.3% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $530.00 price objective (up previously 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.14.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
Microsoft Trading Down 0.4%
Shares of MSFT stock traded down $2.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $501.48. 16,466,043 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,666,022. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 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. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $467.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $424.96. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $506.78.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
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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