Financial Insights Inc. Raises Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Financial Insights Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,774 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 8.6% of Financial Insights Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Financial Insights Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Financial Security Advisor Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,255,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,089,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,497,000 after buying an additional 5,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,967,000 after acquiring an additional 6,484 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 target price (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

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

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% 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. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.