Friday Financial Buys Shares of 624 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• Friday Financial acquired a new stake in Microsoft, purchasing 624 shares valued at approximately $238,000 in the first quarter.
• Analysts are optimistic about Microsoft, with Barclays raising their target price from $550.00 to $625.00 and three firms rating the stock as a "hold."
• Microsoft recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, with a payout ratio of 24.34%, to be paid on September 11th.

Friday Financial bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 624 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,375,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $9.39 on Friday, hitting $524.11. The company had a trading volume of 28,948,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,331,950. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.42, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. The company's fifty day moving average price is $489.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $434.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation 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, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.