Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Has $16.79 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 44,656 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 968 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 4.6% of Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Financial Security Advisor Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,255,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $409.34 on Wednesday. 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 1 year low of $306.09 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $413.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $392.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.44, a PEG ratio of 2.15 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.