Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Boosts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 468,313 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.8% of Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $135,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. PayPay Securities Corp acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. Gleason Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 111.7% in the 1st quarter. Gleason Group Inc. now owns 199 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Syverson Strege & Co lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 157.0% in the 1st quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 203 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $337.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 31st. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $373.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $328.79 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $333.13 and a 200-day moving average of $307.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $366.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The company had revenue of $56.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 28.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 874 shares in the company, valued at $292,588.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 874 shares in the company, valued at $292,588.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,301,924.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.