ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,002 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.9% of ABLE Financial Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. ABLE Financial Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,335,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,385,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,368,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $565.00 price target (up previously from $515.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.68.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Trading Down 0.6%
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $2.84 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $477.40. The company had a trading volume of 37,241,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,515,262. The business's 50-day moving average is $437.84 and its 200-day moving average is $420.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $483.46.
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. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.
Insider Activity
In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
About Microsoft
(
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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