SevenBridge Financial Group LLC Boosts Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

SevenBridge Financial Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 60,775 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.4% of SevenBridge Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compton Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Compton Financial Group LLC now owns 1,963 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $738,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 144,577 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $54,367,000 after buying an additional 6,178 shares during the period. Brand Asset Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Brand Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 3,248 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,221,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period. 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. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 52.0% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 181,170 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,127,000 after buying an additional 61,948 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $399.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $414.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $384.83. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $275.37 and a twelve month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during 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%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Macquarie raised their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $432.13.

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.