Warm Springs Advisors Inc. Purchases New Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Warm Springs Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 13,877 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $5,849,000. Microsoft accounts for about 5.4% of Warm Springs Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $120,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value 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. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $480.24 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $434.09 and a 200-day moving average of $419.74. The company has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $481.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors 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 yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.68.

Microsoft Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.