Gries Financial LLC Acquires 957 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 21st, 2023

Gries Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,991 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 957 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.3% of Gries Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Gries Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 19.9% in the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in Microsoft by 20.8% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after acquiring an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 16.2% in the first quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 8.2% in the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, 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 owns 116,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,687,699.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The stock was 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 owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,687,699.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,111 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $272.23 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $315.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $253.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.40. The company has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group set a $310.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, February 27th. UBS Group set a $275.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Wedbush upped their price target 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. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $285.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. One equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.30.

About Microsoft

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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.