Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 1,612 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 45,074 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.8% of Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 valued at $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position 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 valued at $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $531.82.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $3.80 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $499.71. The stock had a trading volume of 4,981,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,621,366. The company has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.04. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $467.76 and its two-hundred 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS 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 currently 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.