Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Raised by Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC

Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,450 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 116 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.0% of Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,436,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,591,126,000 after purchasing an additional 277,881 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,381,692 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,544,532,000 after purchasing an additional 403,409 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. New Street Research initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 target price on the stock. Argus increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given 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 $431.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $422.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $423.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.