First Financial Group Corp Makes New Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

First Financial Group Corp bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 17,236 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $7,265,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 8.0% of First Financial Group Corp's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,675,715,000 after acquiring an additional 1,823,579 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after acquiring an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,228,502 shares of the software giant's stock worth $11,898,314,000 after acquiring an additional 324,052 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,243 shares of company stock valued at $48,619,618 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of MSFT opened at $452.57 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $399.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $413.31.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. TD Securities boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $512.63.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.