Bellecapital International Ltd. increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,951 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 6,256 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.8% of Bellecapital International Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Bellecapital International Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,334,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In other Microsoft 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five 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, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.
Read Our Latest Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Performance
MSFT opened at $438.00 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $388.19 and a 200-day moving average of $411.61. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.
Microsoft Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report).
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