Sweeney & Michel LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 15,925 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $5,646,000. Microsoft comprises about 2.3% of Sweeney & Michel LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $1,375,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Stock Down 0.3%
NASDAQ MSFT opened at $495.94 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $499.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.33, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $449.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $422.12. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $521.14.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Microsoft Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading

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