Sage Investment Counsel LLC Acquires Shares of 3,349 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sage Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,349 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,412,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.8% of Sage Investment Counsel LLC's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Sequent Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Riverstone Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,941,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" 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 assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $433.35. The stock had a trading volume of 23,291,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,367,253. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $386.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $411.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm 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 company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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