Veracity Capital LLC Grows Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Veracity Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,612 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.4% of Veracity Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 534.5% in the second quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Macquarie increased their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $432.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $399.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $414.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $384.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $275.37 and a one year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.