Sound Income Strategies LLC Buys 1,725 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 20,021 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,725 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,345,000 after buying an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $510.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $477.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $514.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.