Coastline Trust Co Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Coastline Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 104,950 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,106 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.2% of Coastline Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Coastline Trust Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $39,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Sicart Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,434,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $692,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 7,807 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,936,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $400.96 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $275.37 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $414.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $386.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.05.

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.