Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Dempze Nancy E

Dempze Nancy E increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,233 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 853 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.7% of Dempze Nancy E’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Dempze Nancy E’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,908,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $466,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.57.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $470.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $420.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $417.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $473.43.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. This trade 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 valued at $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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.