Promus Capital LLC Makes New $2.17 Million Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 5,137 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $2,165,000. Microsoft makes up 2.0% of Promus Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. First Business Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,548 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,818,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 269,134 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $113,440,000 after buying an additional 7,756 shares in the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $1,127,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,056,059 shares of the software giant's stock worth $866,629,000 after buying an additional 24,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 59,138 shares of the software giant's stock worth $24,927,000 after purchasing an additional 10,676 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $0.12 on Tuesday, hitting $449.14. The company had a trading volume of 22,927,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,468,471. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $390.16 and a 200-day moving average of $411.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

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.