SoundView Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

SoundView Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 13,933 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $5,872,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.4% of SoundView Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its position in Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management raised its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,789,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,274,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,980,299,000 after purchasing an additional 217,509 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 94,243 shares of company stock valued at $41,288,738 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.30.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $454.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $395.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $412.48.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company’s revenue 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, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.