Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Phraction Management LLC

Phraction Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 54,925 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,549 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 6.9% of Phraction Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Phraction Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $520.17 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $502.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $441.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,350 shares of company stock valued at $21,493,447 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.