Capital Management Associates Inc Acquires Shares of 4,705 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Capital Management Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,705 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,769,000. Microsoft makes up about 1.6% of Capital Management Associates Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Sicart Associates LLC increased 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 buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC increased its position 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 in the last quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 7,807 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,936,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’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 completion of 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 link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 target price (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price objective (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $414.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $389.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $303.40 and a 12-month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Microsoft Profile

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.