Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Buys 3,290 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 33.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,024 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,290 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.7% of Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $522.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. 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 moving average price of $501.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $440.51. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two equities research 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 company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,350 shares of company stock valued at $21,493,447 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.