Elevated Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Elevated Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,656 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.3% of Elevated Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $86,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 160.7% during the 4th quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Macquarie increased their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $467.12.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $459.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $459.59. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $425.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $410.79.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders 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 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.