Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Lifted by Atlas Brown Inc.

Atlas Brown Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,879 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,184 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.7% of Atlas Brown Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Atlas Brown Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,625,201,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $445.70 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $419.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $406.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $450.94. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $465.83.

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.