First Horizon Advisors Inc. Buys 4,136 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 160,735 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,136 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.2% of First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $71,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,087,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 32,669 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,285,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 7,145 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,687,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Prism Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Prism Advisors Inc. now owns 1,286 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenwich Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,731 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,829,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $438.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $421.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $423.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.