Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,074 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.8% of Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,920,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 raised its holdings 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 raised its holdings 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. raised its holdings in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer raised shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.14.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $1.84 during trading on Friday, reaching $503.32. 16,454,184 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,673,776. 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 Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $506.78. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $470.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $425.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Company 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.