James Reed Financial Services Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,173 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

James Reed Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,173 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,337,000. Microsoft makes up 1.4% of James Reed Financial Services Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,322,513,000 after purchasing an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,228,502 shares of the software giant's stock worth $11,898,314,000 after acquiring an additional 324,052 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $438.73. 15,313,766 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,454,441. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $389.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $411.63. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.