Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Canoe Financial LP

Canoe Financial LP grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 525.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 617,606 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 518,930 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.8% of Canoe Financial LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Canoe Financial LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $260,321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $45,000. Avondale Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 7,000 shares of company stock worth $3,070,340 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $397.12 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $420.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $422.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.