Milestone Asset Management Group LLC Acquires Shares of 7,191 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Milestone Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,191 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $3,031,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.7% of Milestone Asset Management Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during 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 buying an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $3,035,987,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.68.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $486.00 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $439.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $420.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $487.75.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

About Microsoft

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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