Root Financial Partners LLC Acquires 8,087 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 50.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 24,096 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 8,087 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.0% of Root Financial Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Root Financial Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sovran Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.3% during the first quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 36,610 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $13,464,000 after purchasing an additional 12,254 shares in the last quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3,916.3% during the first quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 642,801 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $241,301,000 after purchasing an additional 626,796 shares in the last quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,631 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,745,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the first quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 98,136 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $36,839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TBH Global Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 33.4% during the first quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC now owns 27,575 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,351,000 after purchasing an additional 6,897 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,350 shares of company stock worth $21,493,447. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $1.46 during trading on Thursday, hitting $522.04. 13,172,430 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,226,391. The stock has a market cap of $3.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $500.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $439.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Equities research analysts predict 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

Microsoft 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.