Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Has $267.88 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 713,600 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 11,408 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.3% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $267,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fosun International Ltd raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,490,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 target price (up previously from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $555.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $513.24 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $486.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $433.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $518.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

About Microsoft

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.