Highlander Capital Management LLC Acquires 3,766 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Highlander Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 33,521 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,766 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.5% of Highlander Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Highlander Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sicart Associates LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $692,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.1% during the third quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies raised its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 7,807 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,936,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays upped their target price on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Macquarie upped their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $388.12. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $295.25 and a 12-month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’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 owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $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.