Davis R M Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Davis R M Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 434,559 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,892 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.6% of Davis R M Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $183,167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,980,299,000 after acquiring an additional 217,509 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $454.27 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $395.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $412.61. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 94,243 shares of company stock worth $41,288,738. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.16.

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.