Kestra Investment Management LLC Buys 3,051 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,115 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,051 shares during the quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 94,120 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,816,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373 shares during the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $457,119,000 after buying an additional 33,382 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $54,376,000 after acquiring an additional 40,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,930,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Arete Research boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Melius Research increased their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $632.34.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $478.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $504.05 and a 200 day moving average of $502.34. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

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.