Corrigan Financial Inc. Invests $1.53 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Corrigan Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,072 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares during the last quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its holdings in Microsoft by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bensler LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 86,932 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $27,449,000 after purchasing an additional 2,674 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $409.06 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $275.37 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $414.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $387.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $434.05.

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.