CastleKnight Management LP Has $3.20 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

CastleKnight Management LP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 85.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,580 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. CastleKnight Management LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $479.14 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $430.54 and a 200 day moving average of $418.94. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $480.69.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. TD Securities upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.