Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Citadel Investment Advisory Inc.

Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,881 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.9% of Citadel Investment Advisory Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $581.00 price objective (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.79.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $510.05 on Friday. 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $477.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.54. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.