Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Boosted by Sovereign Financial Group Inc.

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,682 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 779 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.5% of Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $86,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 160.7% in the fourth quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $467.12.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’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 owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $460.77 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $426.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $411.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.89, a PEG 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 $461.02.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

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.