Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Financial Insights Inc.’s Largest Position

Financial Insights Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,774 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 8.6% of Financial Insights Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Financial Insights Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Security Advisor Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,255,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,089,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $414.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $389.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $303.40 and a 1-year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 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 insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 target price (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

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.