Stonehearth Capital Management LLC Invests $254,000 in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Stonehearth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 603 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after acquiring an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $408.43 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s fifty day moving average is $428.76 and its 200 day moving average is $422.92. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.