PAX Financial Group LLC Has $4.92 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

PAX Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,660 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,563 shares during the quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its stake in Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $3.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $474.96. The stock had a trading volume of 16,787,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,485,134. The company's 50 day moving average is $425.64 and its 200-day moving average is $418.26. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $480.42. 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 company has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

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 transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.68.

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.