Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Smith Moore & CO.

Smith Moore & CO. raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,139 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.0% of Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,439,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $120,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $513.59.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $472.75 on Tuesday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $419.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $417.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.06, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $473.43.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

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.