BG Investment Services Inc. Acquires New Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BG Investment Services Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 788 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $332,000. Microsoft comprises 0.3% of BG Investment Services Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. United Bank increased its position in Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,908,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the period. Finally, Wiser Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wiser Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,840 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $3.81 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $467.68. 20,094,702 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,489,870. 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $413.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $415.95. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $469.58. The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The business's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 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.