Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Quent Capital LLC

Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,421 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,513 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.7% of Quent Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 534.5% in the second quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $601,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $69,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $413.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $415.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $383.26. The company has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.40, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $275.37 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $430.52.

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.