Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Etfidea LLC

Etfidea LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,006 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Etfidea LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,319 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,386,000 after purchasing an additional 2,610 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 12,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,249,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 30,277 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,560,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 113.0% during the 3rd quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 72,505 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,894,000 after purchasing an additional 38,462 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.4 %

MSFT stock opened at $399.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.08, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $414.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $387.17. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $292.73 and a 52 week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.32 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James upped their price target on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $434.05.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.