Fortis Capital Management LLC Purchases 8,250 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fortis Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 303,081 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 8,250 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 23.6% of Fortis Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Fortis Capital Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $127,749,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,116,940,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $458.77. 34,758,620 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,610,607. The company has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.94, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $407.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $414.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $513.13.

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.