Waverton Investment Management Ltd Grows Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,088,472 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 68,704 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 6.3% of Waverton Investment Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Waverton Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $408,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $522.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.27, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $496.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $438.29. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month 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.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders 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 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,743 shares of company stock worth $24,921,913 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.

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.