614 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bought by Holcombe Financial Inc.

Holcombe Financial Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 614 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Avondale Wealth Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

MSFT opened at $474.96 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $428.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $418.65. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $480.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

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 for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.68.

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.