Integral Investment Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Integral Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 32.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,621 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,320 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.6% of Integral Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Integral Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4%

MSFT stock opened at $401.10 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $400.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $411.43.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly bullish ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report, with several firms still rating the stock Buy/Outperform even after trimming price targets. Microsoft Earnings Preview: Copilot, AI Spending and Margins Are in Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is being viewed as a top AI vendor, and Citi highlighted it as one of the leading players in the space, reinforcing the company’s AI leadership narrative. Citi Finds Microsoft (MSFT) as One of the Top AI Vendors
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with 3M to advance AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation, a sign of continued demand for its cloud and AI ecosystem. 3M and Microsoft announce strategic partnership to advance AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella’s push to emphasize Microsoft’s in-house AI models and lower-cost enterprise offerings suggests a more aggressive competitive strategy versus OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Microsoft is reportedly training salespeople to talk down OpenAI and Anthropic

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial cut their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial cut Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $557.96.

About Microsoft

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).