Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Financial Insights Inc.’s 3rd Largest Position

Financial Insights Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,514 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 26 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 7.4% of Financial Insights Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Financial Insights Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $521.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $498.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $438.72. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict 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 given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,743 shares of company stock worth $24,921,913 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.86.

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.