Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Lifted by Allied Investment Advisors LLC

Allied Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,559 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.5% of Allied Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Allied Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth $5,587,119,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $4,000,376,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 277.8% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,004,341 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,633,912,000 after acquiring an additional 5,150,160 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

MSFT opened at $408.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The business’s 50 day moving average is $429.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $422.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 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.