Brown Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brown Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,959 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Brown Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $515.68.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $474.96 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $428.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $418.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $480.42. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company 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%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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