Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. Has $5.67 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,062 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.8% of Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd 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 period. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $87,000. Family CFO Inc lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 647.8% in the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $146,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of 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 available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $394.94 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $414.03 and its 200-day moving average is $389.48. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $303.40 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The firm has a market cap 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. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. 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 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.