Forum Private Client Group LLC Invests $412,000 in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Forum Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,097 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $412,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kercheville Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Kercheville Advisors LLC now owns 21,627 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,133,000 after buying an additional 1,450 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. now owns 30,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,567,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $219,000. Finally, Mirador Capital Partners LP increased its position in Microsoft by 71.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 31,184 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,726,000 after buying an additional 12,959 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $411.84 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $415.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $384.15. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $275.37 and a 1 year high of $430.82. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $431.03.

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.