Milestone Asset Management LLC Buys New Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Milestone Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,934 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $954,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.6% of Milestone Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 71.4% in the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,000. Institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total transaction of $1,550,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 110,206 shares in the company, valued at $34,169,370.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 54,848 shares of company stock worth $16,635,227. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $318.34 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.93. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $319.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 1.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $290.86 and a 200-day moving average of $261.67.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Raymond James increased their price target on Microsoft from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on Microsoft from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Microsoft from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.28.

Microsoft Company Profile

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.