Marshall Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,655 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.1% of Marshall Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Marshall Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Sightline Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sightline Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 4,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,213,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV grew its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV now owns 7,166 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,074,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Affiance Financial LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Affiance Financial LLC now owns 10,362 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,988,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Five Oceans Advisors grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Five Oceans Advisors now owns 10,744 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Trading Up 2.5 %
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.23 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.07%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $340.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $411.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $335.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.34.
Get Our Latest Research Report on MSFT
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.
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