Manchester Financial Inc. Purchases 81 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Manchester Financial Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,403 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.8% of Manchester Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Manchester Financial Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the third quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Caliber Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.7% in the third quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.9% in the third quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,162 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Landmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $1,080,000. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,433 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,294,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup reduced their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $394.94 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $414.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $389.48. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $303.40 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The stock has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’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 value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale 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 business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.