Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC Has $4.52 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 27.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,014 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,552 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.5% of Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,517,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $679,928,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in Microsoft by 9.2% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,749,275,000 after buying an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 243.6% during the third quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,151,555 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $679,353,000 after buying an additional 1,525,367 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $407.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.85, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $414.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $386.93. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $275.37 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the 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 owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $434.05.

Microsoft 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.