Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC Buys 2,004 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 43.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,630 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,004 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 0.4% of Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dillon & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 16,476 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,953,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Clune & Associates LTD. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,932,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $248,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,481,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $458.77. 34,758,620 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,504,528. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $409.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $415.17. 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company 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 given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

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.