Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Strategic Blueprint LLC’s 9th Largest Position

Strategic Blueprint LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 56,961 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,603 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.8% of Strategic Blueprint LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Strategic Blueprint LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth $87,000. Family CFO Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 647.8% during the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $146,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,025,258 shares of company stock valued at $12,160,356 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Macquarie increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $397.84 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $413.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $389.54. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $303.40 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share 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 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 payout ratio 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.