Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd. Buys 17,000 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,000 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 17,000 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 11.9% of Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Homestead Advisers Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 236,787 shares of the software giant's stock worth $99,806,000 after buying an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 79,642 shares of the software giant's stock worth $33,569,000 after buying an additional 2,232 shares in the last quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,937,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 593,905 shares of the software giant's stock worth $250,331,000 after buying an additional 126,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BIT Capital GmbH raised its stake in Microsoft by 823.3% in the fourth quarter. BIT Capital GmbH now owns 19,731 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,317,000 after buying an additional 17,594 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $0.90 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $463.87. The stock had a trading volume of 14,135,414 shares, 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 price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $411.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS 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 issued 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 yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 132,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,835,683 over the last quarter. 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.