AJ Advisors LLC Acquires 1,025 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

AJ Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 43.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,409 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.8% of AJ Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. AJ Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $69,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $87,000. Family CFO Inc raised its holdings in Microsoft by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cordant Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 647.8% during the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $399.04 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $414.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $387.17. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $292.73 and a twelve month high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $434.05.

About Microsoft

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.