Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Ethos Financial Group LLC

Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,311 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during 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 during the period. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during 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 during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $449.26 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $390.16 and its 200-day moving average is $411.71. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.17, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid 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 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.