Spahn Wealth & Retirement LLC Invests $4.69 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Spahn Wealth & Retirement LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,117 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $4,686,000. Microsoft accounts for about 3.1% of Spahn Wealth & Retirement LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,675,715,000 after buying an additional 1,823,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 39,829,031 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,787,934,000 after buying an additional 1,408,374 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.59.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were 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 owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

Microsoft stock opened at $470.38 on Monday. 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 one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $473.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $417.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $416.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm 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 firm earned $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Microsoft Company 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.

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