Evexia Wealth LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Evexia Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,943 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.4% of Evexia Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Evexia Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Udine Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% in the first quarter. Udine Wealth Management Inc. now owns 39,941 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,993,000 after purchasing an additional 1,926 shares during the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 6.8% in the first quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,795 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,373,000 after buying an additional 1,327 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 5.9% in the first quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,521 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,827,000 after buying an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.7% in the first quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 46,762 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,554,000 after buying an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ehrlich Financial Group increased its position in Microsoft by 4.5% in the first quarter. Ehrlich Financial Group now owns 1,224 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $524.71.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.5%

MSFT stock opened at $498.25 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $500.76. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $461.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $423.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, 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.