Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Brookstone Capital Management

Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 161,355 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 14,093 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.2% of Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $67,885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,625,201,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,591,126,000 after buying an additional 277,881 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $459.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $425.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $410.79. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $459.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $467.12.

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.