Black Swift Group LLC Buys 10,639 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Black Swift Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 231.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,241 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 10,639 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.4% of Black Swift Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Black Swift Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in Microsoft by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,483 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the 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 $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $449.14. 22,927,936 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,468,471. The company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.16, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $390.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $411.71. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Microsoft 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.