Bensler LLC Has $34.28 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bensler LLC grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 91,172 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,240 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.7% of Bensler LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Bensler LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $34,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% in 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 lifted its position 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 buying an additional 196,338 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Macquarie raised their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Four 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $432.13.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other 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 through the SEC website. In other 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 through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. 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. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8 %

MSFT stock opened at $404.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The business has a 50-day moving average of $415.29 and a 200-day moving average of $384.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $275.37 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. 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 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.