Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Sound Income Strategies LLC

Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,021 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $1.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $510.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,120,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,618,181. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $477.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $428.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $514.64.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. 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 quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $581.00 target price (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer raised shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $541.79.

Microsoft Company 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.