Sivia Capital Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,332 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.7% of Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th 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 worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson increased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price target (up previously from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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 current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $500.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.50, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $461.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $423.48.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company 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 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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.