Financial Advisory Corp Makes New $457,000 Investment in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Financial Advisory Corp bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,085 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $457,000. Microsoft comprises 0.1% of Financial Advisory Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $477.40 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $437.84 and its 200-day moving average is $420.47. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $483.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.68.

Microsoft 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.