Ballew Advisors Inc Boosts Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ballew Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,381 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Ballew Advisors Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. James J. Burns & Company LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 165.5% during the second quarter. James J. Burns & Company LLC now owns 11,074 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,950,000 after acquiring an additional 6,903 shares in the last quarter. Highland Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the second quarter. Highland Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $599,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Provident Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 22.2% during the second quarter. Provident Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,389 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% in the second quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 86,985 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $38,878,000 after buying an additional 2,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Phoenix Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 21,678 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,689,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $423.04 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $424.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $423.06. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during 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%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. New Street Research started coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Argus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $494.72.

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.