Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Kercheville Advisors LLC’s 5th Largest Position

Kercheville Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,627 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,450 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.6% of Kercheville Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,133,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 534.5% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $69,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $83,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $431.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $411.84 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $275.37 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $415.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $384.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.24, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’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 $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

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.