Next Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Next Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 17.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,072 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. Next Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,422,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after acquiring an additional 196,338 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,919,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $413.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $275.37 and a one year high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $415.35 and its 200 day moving average is $383.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Macquarie upped their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.