Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Boosted by Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC

Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 561.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 993,452 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 843,163 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 7.2% of Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $418,740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel grew its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $478.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $425.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $418.26. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $480.42. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.89.

Microsoft 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.