Sound Income Strategies LLC Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its Microsoft stake by 9.2% in the first quarter, buying 2,923 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 34,747 shares worth about $12.8 million.
• Microsoft continues to draw strong analyst support, with 41 analysts rating it a Buy and seven a Hold; the stock’s average target price is $559.84, though several firms recently trimmed their targets.
• Recent earnings and shareholder actions were mixed: Microsoft beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, but insiders sold shares last quarter, and the stock was trading at $384.93 with a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.

Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,747 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,923 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. China Renaissance decreased their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. New Street Research cut their price objective on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $559.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $384.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company's 50 day moving average is $401.47 and its 200 day moving average is $412.68.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.46 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators continue to view Microsoft as a high-quality AI and cloud name, with some arguing the stock looks cheaper after the recent decline.
• Positive Sentiment: Upcoming earnings later this month could provide a catalyst if Azure growth and AI-related demand remain strong.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft remains a major beneficiary of AI infrastructure spending, but investors are waiting for clearer proof that those investments will translate into faster profit growth.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s 4,800-job reduction and Xbox restructuring suggest ongoing cost pressure and restructuring challenges.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities class-action alerts tied to alleged AI/Copilot disclosure issues are adding legal and reputational risk.
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns about Microsoft’s OpenAI partnership and AI product execution are creating uncertainty around the company’s AI narrative.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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