Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Ellis Investment Partners LLC

Ellis Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,679 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 0.8% of Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $4,000,376,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during 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 period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s 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 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 have sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $460.77 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $426.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $411.42. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Stockholders 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 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

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.