Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Increased by Affinity Capital Advisors LLC

Affinity Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,808 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 0.8% of Affinity Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $510.05 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $477.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.49. 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 $514.64. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 target price (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.79.

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.