Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Lifted by Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 25th, 2023

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 244,556 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,185 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.2% of Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $58,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 71.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $104,000. Finally, Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Credit Suisse Group set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Wolfe Research cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.92.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $280.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $315.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $256.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $246.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. The company had revenue of $52.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.22%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total value of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,614,975.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was 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 owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.