Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,521 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 866 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.3% of Sovereign Financial Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,827,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the first quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 46,762 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Ehrlich Financial Group increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Ehrlich Financial Group now owns 1,224 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 44.5% during the 1st quarter. Summit Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the software giant's stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Fosun International Ltd grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,320 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,748,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $7.16 on Friday, hitting $498.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,984,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,715,135. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $461.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $423.57. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $500.76. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.50, a PEG ratio of 2.26 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $524.71.

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.