Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Boosted by McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc.

McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,460 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.5% of McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CNB Bank raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.4% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 24,949 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,878,000 after buying an additional 1,507 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 24,235 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,652,000 after acquiring an additional 1,036 shares during the last quarter. Gitterman Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Gitterman Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,088 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,133,000 after purchasing an additional 753 shares in the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 18,740 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,917,000 after purchasing an additional 999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Post Investment Office LP grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% in the third quarter. Seven Post Investment Office LP now owns 2,012 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $446.34 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $450.94. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of $419.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $406.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 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 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid 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 yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.83.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

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