Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Increased by Central Valley Advisors LLC

Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,953 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.9% of Central Valley Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Central Valley Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bayesian Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,238,000 after buying an additional 18,200 shares in the last quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $550,086,000 after purchasing an additional 5,253 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 296.7% during the 1st quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $9,538,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Macquarie increased their target price on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $494.72.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $409.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $430.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $423.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.