Forefront Wealth Management Inc. Invests $9.33 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Forefront Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 22,128 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $9,327,000. Microsoft makes up 8.6% of Forefront Wealth Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $458.77. 34,758,620 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,504,528. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $409.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $415.04. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for 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%. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 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.