Parallel Advisors LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 51.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 285,518 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 96,672 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.3% of Parallel Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Parallel Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $107,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th 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 lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $519.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was 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. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $492.27 on Thursday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $444.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $421.40. 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $494.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.04, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.