Homestead Advisers Corp Purchases 8,800 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Homestead Advisers Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 236,787 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 8,800 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.4% of Homestead Advisers Corp's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Homestead Advisers Corp's holdings in Microsoft were worth $99,806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during 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 period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 730 shares during the period. Finally, RBO & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. RBO & Co. LLC now owns 9,826 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,228,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $0.90 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $463.87. 14,135,414 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,449,429. The company has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $411.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $415.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft 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.