784 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bought by SWP Financial LLC

SWP Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 784 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 18.4% during the third quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 8,621 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares in the last quarter. ML & R Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the third quarter. ML & R Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,170 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,317,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares during the period. Diversified LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the third quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 11,944 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,771,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 5.3% during the third quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 17,970 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,674,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the period. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management grew its position in Microsoft by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 737,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $220,121,000 after purchasing an additional 95,844 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $465.83.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $448.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $418.19 and its 200 day moving average is $405.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.82, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $450.94.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Microsoft 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.