Saiph Capital LLC Purchases 623 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Saiph Capital LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,262 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 623 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 0.6% of Saiph Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Saiph Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Microsoft by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 43,900.4% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,913,000 after buying an additional 2,037,857 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $450.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $402.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $413.85. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were 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. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. 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 stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.