Kowal Investment Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kowal Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,615 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,379 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.5% of Kowal Investment Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Kowal Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Horizon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,698 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,399,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Harrell Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 39,730 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,940,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the period. Center For Asset Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 12,919 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,858,000 after purchasing an additional 3,778 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 8,165 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,071,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 64,150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $24,123,000 after purchasing an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $432.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $404.27 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $415.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $384.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89. 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 quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

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.