Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 13.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,453 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,936 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.0% of Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during 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 period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% 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 worth $60,224,683 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $510.05 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $514.64. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $477.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $428.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. UBS Group restated a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.79.

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.