Saxon Interests Inc. Acquires 5,422 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Saxon Interests Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 61.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,310 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 5,422 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.7% of Saxon Interests Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Saxon Interests Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $421.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $275.37 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $415.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $381.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $430.52.

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.