Sound Income Strategies LLC Has $7.52 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,021 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.79.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $510.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The company’s 50-day moving average is $477.78 and its 200-day moving average is $428.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $514.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.