Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 23.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 365,382 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 69,836 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.1% of Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $137,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sicart Associates LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd 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 grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies increased its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 7,807 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,936,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $295.25 and a one year high of $430.82. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $414.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $388.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Macquarie increased their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft 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 transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. 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.