BNC Wealth Management LLC Has $14.20 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BNC Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,821 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 712 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 5.1% of BNC Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. BNC Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,375,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $581.00 price target (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $538.04.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% 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 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.0%

Microsoft stock opened at $505.62 on Thursday. 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 $508.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $474.88 and its 200 day moving average is $427.28.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.