Perennial Advisors LLC Raises Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Perennial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,924 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 980 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 5.7% of Perennial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Perennial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Citigroup lifted their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America dropped their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. 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 an average target price of $524.71.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $498.25 on Monday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.50, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $461.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.48. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $500.76.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.