Smart Money Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Smart Money Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 22.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,434 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 981 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.8% of Smart Money Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Smart Money Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newton One Investments LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $524.71.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $491.09 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $500.76. The company has a market cap of $3.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $457.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $423.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.

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