Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Acquires Shares of 6,248 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,248 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $2,634,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.0% of Hopwood Financial Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th 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 period. Centric Wealth Management boosted its stake in 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 boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 217,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson raised their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.30.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $454.27 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $395.33 and its 200 day moving average is $412.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was 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 owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 94,243 shares of company stock worth $41,288,738 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.