Portside Wealth Group LLC Buys Shares of 2,185,535 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,185,535 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $744,260,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.2% of Portside Wealth Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 19.9% during the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,422,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its position in Microsoft by 20.8% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after buying an additional 196,338 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,919,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 16.2% during the first quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 8.2% during the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Microsoft Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $369.85 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $219.35 and a 1 year high of $376.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $336.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $331.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.34. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.31% and a return on equity of 38.79%. The business had revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.35 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.13 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 29.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Redburn Partners cut their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $390.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Microsoft from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Wedbush upped their price target on Microsoft from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on Microsoft from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.11.

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.