Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Crane Advisory LLC

Crane Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 447.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,364 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,750 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 0.3% of Crane Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Crane Advisory LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the third 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 last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,625,201,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

MSFT opened at $446.95 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $456.17. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $424.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $410.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm 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 last year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.