Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC

Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,956 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.2% of Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sicart Associates LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $692,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the third quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 7,807 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,936,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $434.05.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $409.06 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $387.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.99, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $275.37 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.12%.

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.