Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Sowell Financial Services LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Sowell Financial Services LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 153,594 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,558 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.6% of Sowell Financial Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $57,658,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in 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 last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $510.05 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $477.78 and its 200-day moving average is $428.61. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $514.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. DA Davidson increased 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, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.79.

Microsoft 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.