Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC Buys 1,537 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,346 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,537 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.6% of Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MSFT opened at $510.05 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $477.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $428.54. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $514.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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, 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 firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $581.00 target price (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.79.

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.