SLT Holdings LLC Purchases Shares of 9,424 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

SLT Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 9,424 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $3,972,000. Microsoft makes up 3.8% of SLT Holdings LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 90,318 shares of the software giant's stock worth $38,069,000 after acquiring an additional 3,337 shares in the last quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 26,284 shares of the software giant's stock worth $11,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares during the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 156,152 shares of the software giant's stock worth $65,818,000 after purchasing an additional 15,466 shares in the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 186,468 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $78,596,000 after purchasing an additional 6,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farrow Financial Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Farrow Financial Inc. now owns 7,804 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,315,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $509.16.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $1.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $454.27. 23,797,504 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,538,550. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $395.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $412.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 94,243 shares of company stock valued at $41,288,738. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft 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.