Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Raised by Mutual Advisors LLC

Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 227,547 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,309 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.5% of Mutual Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $89,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,496,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,345,000 after buying an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $16,075,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,350 shares of company stock valued at $14,162,567 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wedbush increased their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.10 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $503.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $441.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

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.