Perennial Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Perennial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 74,944 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $31,589,000. Microsoft comprises 6.9% of Perennial Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group raised its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $2.84 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $477.40. 37,241,095 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,559,872. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $436.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $420.16. The company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $483.25. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 0.70%. Microsoft's 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.