Compass Capital Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Compass Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 164,493 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,050 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.1% of Compass Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Compass Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $61,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays upped their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush increased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four 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.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.79.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $510.05 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $477.78 and a 200 day moving average of $428.49. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $514.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.