Spectrum Planning & Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,196 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.0% of Spectrum Planning & Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Spectrum Planning & Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Microsoft Stock Performance
NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $523.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $513.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $469.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.03.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.
Insider Activity
In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Arete increased their price target on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. DA Davidson raised their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $618.47.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft
Microsoft Company 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.
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