Rempart Asset Management Inc. Purchases 1,080 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 18th, 2023

Rempart Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 90,575 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,080 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 5.1% of Rempart Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Rempart Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,722,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 537,177 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $128,826,000 after acquiring an additional 15,689 shares during the period. Red Spruce Capital LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 15,560 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,732,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. IMPACTfolio LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. IMPACTfolio LLC now owns 7,930 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Marotta Asset Management grew its position in Microsoft by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Marotta Asset Management now owns 5,433 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its position in Microsoft by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 189,258 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,388,000 after purchasing an additional 6,280 shares in the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,687,699.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $279.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $315.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $252.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.55.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $52.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.05% and a return on equity of 39.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

Microsoft Profile

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.