AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Makes New $10.94 Million Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 25,948 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $10,937,000. Microsoft accounts for about 2.1% of AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,116,940,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $0.90 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $463.87. 14,135,414 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,449,429. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $411.89 and a 200 day moving average of $415.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

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.