Puff Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Puff Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,026 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 317 shares during the quarter. Puff Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st 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 period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the 4th 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 period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% 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. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6%

MSFT opened at $505.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.09, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $508.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $473.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $426.73.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 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 previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Oppenheimer upgraded Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.14.

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.