Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lifted by Sage Capital Advisors llc

Sage Capital Advisors llc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 43,940 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,802 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 4.3% of Sage Capital Advisors llc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Sage Capital Advisors llc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 84,096 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,569,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC now owns 24,317 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,128,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.4% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 44,839 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,832,000 after purchasing an additional 9,634 shares in the last quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 155,868 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,511,000 after buying an additional 13,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 24,449 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,178,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $490.11 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $491.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $441.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $420.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.68.

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.