Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 79,113 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,133 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.8% of Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $29,750,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 534.5% in the second quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $601,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $430.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction 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. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $413.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a P/E 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 current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $275.37 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $415.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $383.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.32 earnings per share. Analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

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.