Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 3,793 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 161,117 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 3,793 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.7% of Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $67,911,000 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 the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after buying an additional 406,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MSFT traded up $0.98 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $462.95. 7,888,285 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,432,333. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $410.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $415.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four research 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 132,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,835,683 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.