Markel Group Inc. Purchases 4,500 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Markel Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 519,480 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.9% of Markel Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Markel Group Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $218,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $512.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,243 shares of company stock valued at $48,619,618. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $452.57 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $399.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $413.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect 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 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

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.