34,941 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Purchased by Bradyco Inc.

Bradyco Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 34,941 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $16,230,000. Microsoft accounts for about 11.4% of Bradyco Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Microsoft by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,032,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $3.80 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $452.94. The company had a trading volume of 19,864,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,511,825. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $391.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $411.86. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.

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.