Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC Invests $2.99 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,097 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,000. Microsoft comprises 2.9% of Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Avondale Wealth Management raised its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% in 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 acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Tigress Financial increased 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. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.68.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $479.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.58, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $480.69. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $430.54 and a 200 day moving average of $418.94.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.