Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Lifted by Bensler LLC

Bensler LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,408 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 5.1% of Bensler LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Bensler LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $41,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% 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, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $505.82 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $508.30. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $473.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.73.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft Company 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.