Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s 10th Largest Position

Columbia Advisory Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,093 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.7% of Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $86,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 160.7% in the fourth quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $456.73 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $457.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.54, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $424.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $410.15.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.