Equitable Trust Co. Acquires 3,002 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Equitable Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 123,352 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,002 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.5% of Equitable Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $46,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $87,000. Family CFO Inc increased its holdings in Microsoft by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 647.8% in the fourth quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $146,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction 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 $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.4 %

Microsoft stock opened at $394.94 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $414.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $389.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $303.40 and a 1-year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

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.