2,244 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Purchased by Graney & King LLC

Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,244 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $946,000. Microsoft comprises about 0.7% of Graney & King LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. now owns 67,462 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,435,000 after buying an additional 1,257 shares in the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $120,000. Rovida Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,638,000. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. now owns 40,158 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,809,000 after acquiring an additional 8,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 33,565 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $14,148,000 after purchasing an additional 3,412 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America lowered their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $1.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $464.42. 7,698,971 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,424,473. 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 business's 50-day moving average price is $411.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $415.62. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.