Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Increased by Sandbox Financial Partners LLC

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,305 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,952 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 6.6% of Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in 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 position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,625,201,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,591,126,000 after buying an additional 277,881 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $460.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $461.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $427.29 and a 200 day moving average of $411.76.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Microsoft 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.