Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Wealthspire Advisors LLC

Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 112,810 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,402 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $38,416,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Syverson Strege & Co raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 157.0% during the 1st quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 203 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $97,000. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $83,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $370.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 26th. Guggenheim upgraded Microsoft from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 25th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $411.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $385.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on Microsoft from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.11.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $376.17 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $219.35 and a 1-year high of $376.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $335.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $331.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.34. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.79% and a net margin of 35.31%. The firm had revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.33%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.