Maestria Partners LLC Buys New Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Maestria Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 31,650 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $13,340,000. Microsoft accounts for 5.3% of Maestria Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew 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 worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew 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 worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew 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 worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,908,000 after buying an additional 730 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $458.77. 34,758,620 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,504,528. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.94, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm's 50-day moving average is $409.00 and its 200-day moving average is $415.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673. 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.