Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s 5th Largest Position

Leavell Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,883 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,046 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.0% of Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $31,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Coston McIsaac & Partners lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 11,781 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,430,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Visionary Horizons LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,314,000. Etfidea LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Etfidea LLC now owns 2,006 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $754,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 49.8% in the 4th quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC now owns 1,467 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $552,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avid Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $880,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $399.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.08, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $414.44 and its 200 day moving average is $387.17. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $292.73 and a twelve month high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.