Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC

Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,132 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 879 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.5% of Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $467.12.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $452.85 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $456.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $422.18 and its 200-day moving average is $408.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.21, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly 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.