Martin Worley Group bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,155 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,330,000.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other Microsoft 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 value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% 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, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $1.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $472.62. 16,371,327 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,517,831. 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 stock's 50 day simple moving average is $420.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $417.46. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $476.16. The company has a market cap of $3.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued 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 $513.89.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on MSFT
Microsoft Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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