Benin Management CORP Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Benin Management CORP increased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 66,335 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 3,722 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 7.1% of Benin Management CORP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Benin Management CORP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $24,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. 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. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America decreased their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $521.14.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $497.41 on Tuesday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $452.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $422.09. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $500.76. The company has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business 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 was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

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.

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