Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Takes $2.25 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,649 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $2,248,000. Microsoft accounts for about 1.5% of Aurora Private Wealth Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $450.24 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $356.28 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $402.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $434.62. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia teased “a new era of PC,” with reports pointing to new Surface hardware and a possible AI-focused chip announcement at Computex, which could refresh the Windows/PC upgrade cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft will unveil a new coding model and other in-house AI tools at next week’s Build conference reinforce the company’s AI monetization story and support sentiment around GitHub Copilot and Azure demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings backdrop remains solid, with revenue growth of 18.3% and better-than-expected EPS, helping investors justify the stock’s premium valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish writeups and analyst commentary say MSFT still has room to run because Azure, M365 cloud, and AI revenue are expanding faster than the broader software market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also drawing attention from investors, fund managers, and even congressional buyers, which supports the stock’s defensive-growth reputation but does not change fundamentals on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: A TechCrunch report says Microsoft is facing backlash for threatening a security researcher over unpatched bugs and code disclosure, adding some reputational noise ahead of Build. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 target price on the stock. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).