Athena Investment Management Has $3.86 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 17th, 2023

Athena Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,083 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.8% of Athena Investment Management’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Athena Investment Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optas LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 25,001 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,996,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 44,418 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,652,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Quilter Plc lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 844,299 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $202,480,000 after purchasing an additional 11,563 shares in the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 41.9% in the 3rd quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 2,908 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 200,299 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $48,036,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $342.33 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $213.43 and a 12-month high of $351.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $311.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $274.16. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.09, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The business had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 16th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,588.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total transaction of $9,182,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total value of $418,462.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $292,588.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 51,331 shares of company stock worth $15,867,278 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James boosted their price target on Microsoft from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Microsoft from $320.00 to $340.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Microsoft from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Microsoft from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on Microsoft from $340.00 to $375.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.23.

About Microsoft

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Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.