Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lessened by Insight Advisors LLC PA

Insight Advisors LLC PA reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,764 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.2% of Insight Advisors LLC PA’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Insight Advisors LLC PA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,045,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $133,023,000 after acquiring an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $498.25 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $461.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.67. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $500.76. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $524.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 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.