Bellecapital International Ltd. Purchases 292 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bellecapital International Ltd. grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,243 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.8% of Bellecapital International Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Bellecapital International Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $24,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Farrell Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the first quarter. Farrell Financial LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,178,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA now owns 12,474 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,683,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 32.3% during the 1st quarter. Sterling Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,487 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after buying an additional 1,339 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 661 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the first quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 936,553 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,573,000 after acquiring an additional 7,469 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $503.02 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $506.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $471.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.18.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush boosted their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.14.

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.