Brand Asset Management Group Inc. Purchases 627 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brand Asset Management Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 23.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,248 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the quarter. Brand Asset Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 56,589 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,280,000 after buying an additional 1,602 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 52.0% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 181,170 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,127,000 after purchasing an additional 61,948 shares in the last quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc. now owns 137,495 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $51,704,000 after purchasing an additional 2,214 shares in the last quarter. Clarus Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $1,338,000. Finally, PFG Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,820.1% during the fourth quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 4,077 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. KeyCorp began coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. 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. Citigroup cut their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $432.13.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $399.12 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $275.37 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $414.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $384.83. 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 cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’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 approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’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 approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.