Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 74 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 74 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,618 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,013,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 2,111 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $890,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Blue Sky Capital Consultants Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $4,558,000. Three Cord True Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $510,000. Finally, Warm Springs Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $5,849,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

Microsoft stock opened at $480.24 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $434.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $419.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $481.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America dropped their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.68.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.