J.Safra Asset Management Corp Has $4.59 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 35.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,810 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,832 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 0.4% of J.Safra Asset Management Corp's holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. J.Safra Asset Management Corp's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WoodTrust Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 61,982 shares of the software giant's stock worth $26,126,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. Oak Grove Capital LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Oak Grove Capital LLC now owns 42,397 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,870,000 after purchasing an additional 6,128 shares during the last quarter. Abbot Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Abbot Financial Management Inc. now owns 34,844 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $14,687,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Academy Capital Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Academy Capital Management now owns 150,017 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $63,232,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Snider Financial Group lifted its stake in Microsoft by 95.0% in the 4th quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 44,309 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $18,676,000 after purchasing an additional 21,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $509.16.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock traded up $3.28 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $455.39. The company had a trading volume of 5,293,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,449,966. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $392.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $412.14.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given 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 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were 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 approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.