Terra Alpha Investments LLC Has $4.81 Million Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Terra Alpha Investments LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,816 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.2% of Terra Alpha Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Terra Alpha Investments LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. TD Securities increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $534.14.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $503.32 on Friday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $470.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.85. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $506.78. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

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.

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