Friedenthal Financial Buys Shares of 119 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 119 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $45,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $87,000. Family CFO Inc grew its position in Microsoft by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 647.8% during the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $146,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $412.32 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $306.26 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $413.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $392.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

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.