Opulen Financial Group LLC Invests $563,000 in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Opulen Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,336 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 13,311 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,615,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,804 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 26,730 shares of the software giant's stock worth $11,267,000 after buying an additional 599 shares during the period. McDonough Capital Management Inc increased its position in Microsoft by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. McDonough Capital Management Inc now owns 27,836 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $11,733,000 after acquiring an additional 1,364 shares during the period. Finally, Black Swift Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 231.2% during the fourth quarter. Black Swift Group LLC now owns 15,241 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,424,000 after acquiring an additional 10,639 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $3.80 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $452.94. 19,864,490 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,486,259. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $391.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $411.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.