Weaver Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Weaver Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 47.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,707 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,718 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.5% of Weaver Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Weaver Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,375,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $555.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction 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 approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $512.50 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $518.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $484.59 and a 200-day moving average of $432.22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 issued 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 is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.