Sharper & Granite LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,397 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $335,000.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 35,465.9% in the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $66,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,553,188 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,714,197,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129,708 shares during the period. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 11,434.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. now owns 5,460,976 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,413,630 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $981,125,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Microsoft by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 30,893,155 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,524,669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,757,500 shares during the period. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %
Shares of MSFT stock opened at $280.57 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $256.45 and a 200-day moving average of $246.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $213.43 and a 12-month high of $315.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.17, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 30.22%.
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total value of $272,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,687,699.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,687,699.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price target on Microsoft from $285.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Microsoft from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. DA Davidson increased their price target on Microsoft from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.92.
Microsoft Profile
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.
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