Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC Has $1.16 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,749 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.5% of Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position 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 worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,625,201,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $449.78 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $450.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $419.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $406.93. The company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $467.12.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 47,011 shares in the company, 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 worth $10,877,535 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.