Widmann Financial Services Inc. Acquires 286 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Widmann Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,160 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.3% of Widmann Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Widmann Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 19.9% during the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its position in Microsoft by 20.8% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after buying an additional 196,338 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 16.2% during the first quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 8.2% during the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $318.34 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $213.43 and a 1-year high of $319.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $290.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $261.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.88.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.47%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were 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 owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were 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 owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total transaction of $9,182,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,848 shares of company stock worth $16,635,227. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $325.00 to $340.00 in a report on Thursday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $307.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $332.00 to $340.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Macquarie raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.28.

About Microsoft

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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.