Chelsea Counsel Co. Raises Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Chelsea Counsel Co. boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,550 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,228 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.3% of Chelsea Counsel Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Chelsea Counsel Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $477.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $483.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $437.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $420.47.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.68.

About Microsoft

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.