Sovran Advisors LLC Buys 12,254 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sovran Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 50.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,610 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 12,254 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.7% of Sovran Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Sovran Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,464,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $7.47 on Tuesday, hitting $529.24. The stock had a trading volume of 18,664,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,189,628. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The company's 50 day moving average price is $499.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $439.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was 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 owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.