Nova R Wealth Inc. Buys 124 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Nova R Wealth Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,690 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Nova R Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first 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 period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth 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 period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth 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 period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5%

MSFT stock opened at $524.94 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.49, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $494.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $437.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America raised their price target on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.86.

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.