Howard Capital Management Inc. Buys 21,350 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 239,848 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 21,350 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.3% of Howard Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Howard Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $101,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $475.00 price objective (down previously from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.74.

Microsoft Stock Up 8.8 %

MSFT traded up $34.82 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $430.08. 41,615,361 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,248,390. 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 $3.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $383.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $410.91. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.