Axis Wealth Partners LLC Makes New $870,000 Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Axis Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,064 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $870,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its stake in Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.8%

MSFT stock opened at $452.94 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.47, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $392.40 and a 200-day moving average of $412.14.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Company 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.