Elite Financial Inc. Buys New Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 641 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6%

MSFT stock opened at $477.40 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $437.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $420.40. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $483.46. 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 capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 paid 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 is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America dropped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.68.

About Microsoft

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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