Sound Income Strategies LLC Has $7.08 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,830 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,759 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Bayesian Capital Management LP grew its stake in Microsoft by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $18,238,000 after acquiring an additional 18,200 shares in the last quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,545,000 after buying an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $550,086,000 after buying an additional 5,253 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 296.7% during the 1st quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $9,538,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $485.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $494.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $408.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,177,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,692,293. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm's 50-day moving average is $429.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $422.91. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.25, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

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.