BluePath Capital Management LLC Purchases 1,673 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BluePath Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 25.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,352 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,673 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.7% of BluePath Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. BluePath Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,714,197,000 after purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after buying an additional 1,951,554 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,302,677,000 after buying an additional 556,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after purchasing an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Microsoft from $420.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $423.34.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

Microsoft stock opened at $421.43 on Thursday. 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 has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $409.64 and its 200 day moving average is $373.65. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $272.05 and a 12-month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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 value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in 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.