Center For Asset Management LLC Acquires 3,778 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Center For Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 41.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,919 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,778 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.4% of Center For Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Center For Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 534.5% in the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $69,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $83,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James increased their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $432.13.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $415.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $384.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.12%.

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.