Avid Wealth Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 2,339 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Avid Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,339 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $880,000. Microsoft makes up about 0.9% of Avid Wealth Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. FMR LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $679,928,000. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Microsoft by 9.2% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,749,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 243.6% during the third quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,151,555 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $679,353,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525,367 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $10.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $399.04. The stock had a trading volume of 38,891,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,006,016. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $292.73 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $414.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $387.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 27.12%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Company 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.