Wealth Management Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wealth Management Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,101 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 4.9% of Wealth Management Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Wealth Management Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,625,201,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $446.95 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $456.17. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $424.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $410.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued 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 of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie upped their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $467.12.

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.