Enhancing Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Enhancing Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 25,037 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $10,553,000. Microsoft makes up about 8.4% of Enhancing Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $450.18 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $402.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $413.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.