Atria Investments Inc Increases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 443,736 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 5,111 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.6% of Atria Investments Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $186,625,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Bellevue Group AG raised its holdings in Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 target price (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $416.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $435.06 and its 200 day moving average is $422.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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.