Sageworth Trust Co of South Dakota Acquires Shares of 797 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sageworth Trust Co of South Dakota acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 797 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4%

MSFT opened at $520.17 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.14, a PEG ratio of 2.29 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. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $502.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $441.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,350 shares of company stock worth $21,493,447. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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