New Potomac Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

New Potomac Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,115 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,001 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.7% of New Potomac Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. New Potomac Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 82,267 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,976,000 after purchasing an additional 3,209 shares during the last quarter. HS Management Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 18.0% during the third quarter. HS Management Partners LLC now owns 298,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $94,159,000 after purchasing an additional 45,560 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $413.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $415.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $383.26. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $275.37 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 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 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. KeyCorp started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James upped their target price on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $430.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.