Capital Investment Services of America Inc. Acquires 1,026 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Capital Investment Services of America Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 115,204 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,026 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.4% of Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $43,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $538.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was 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 directly owned 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $511.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $476.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $427.88. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $513.37. The stock has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft’s dividend 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.