Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Peak Financial Management Inc.

Peak Financial Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,222 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Peak Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Finally, Campbell Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $3,314,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.6 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $388.56 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $376.91 and a one year high of $468.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $412.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $420.64. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 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 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.43.

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.