Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Cetera Advisors LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 83.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 623,084 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 283,930 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.1% of Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $262,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Financial Security Advisor Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,255,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,089,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP raised its stake in Microsoft by 60.1% during the fourth quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,238,000 after purchasing an additional 18,200 shares during the period. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $550,086,000 after buying an additional 5,253 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $416.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $435.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $422.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $506.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

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.