WealthTrak Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 1,081 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,081 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,675,715,000 after acquiring an additional 1,823,579 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after acquiring an additional 406,940 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock traded up $2.70 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $470.38. The stock had a trading volume of 15,268,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,465,117. The company has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $473.29. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $415.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $416.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 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.