Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 137,381 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,128 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.0% of Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Keel Point LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 43,057 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,326,000 after acquiring an additional 2,598 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 436,450 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $104,669,000 after acquiring an additional 6,662 shares during the last quarter. Horan Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 6,083 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,459,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC now owns 138,605 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $33,240,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, InTrack Investment Management Inc boosted its stake in Microsoft by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 15,732 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071 shares during the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $305.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $315.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Fundamental Research reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $269.73 to $259.47 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $289.17.
Microsoft Stock Down 0.4 %
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $52.75 billion for 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%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.22%.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following 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 the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,687,699.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
About Microsoft
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.
Featured Articles
- Get a free copy of the StockNews.com research report on Microsoft (MSFT)
- After an Earnings Blowout, Is Ciena Stock a Buying Opportunity?
- Here’s Why Viking Therapeutics Rose Over 50% on Obesity Drug Data
- Meta Breaks Out Of A Base, Looks Like A Growth Stock Again
- The Bottom Is In For McCormick & Company
- Walgreens Boots Alliance: Blue Chip, High-Yield Turnaround Story
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating).
Receive News & Ratings for Microsoft Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Microsoft and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
