BFI Infinity Ltd. Buys New Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BFI Infinity Ltd. bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 11,373 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $4,794,000. Microsoft makes up 5.2% of BFI Infinity Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. West Coast Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 52,477 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,119,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Guardian Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 203,047 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $85,584,000 after acquiring an additional 3,935 shares during the last quarter. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,095 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,184,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total value of $874,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 51,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,675,916.64. The trade was a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,070,340. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $399.73 on Thursday. 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 50 day moving average is $422.36 and its 200 day moving average is $423.01. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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.