Stiles Financial Services Inc Increases Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• Stiles Financial Services Inc has increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 3.7%, now holding 16,466 shares valued at approximately $6.18 million, making it the 6th largest position in their portfolio.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with predictions ranging from $475.00 to $640.00 following recent performance, indicating a general consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Microsoft recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.6%, and is expected to report an EPS of 13.08 for the current fiscal year.

Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,466 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.4% of Stiles Financial Services Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Stiles Financial Services Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $9.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $524.11. 28,948,527 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,331,950. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $489.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $434.88. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis 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 presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock valued at $27,520,933 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.86.

About Microsoft

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.