Affinity Capital Advisors LLC Has $3.69 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Affinity Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,821 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.9% of Affinity Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cadian Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 15.1% in the second quarter. Cadian Capital Management LP now owns 107,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,438,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.2% in the second quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. now owns 5,075 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,728,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 82,267 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,976,000 after purchasing an additional 3,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HS Management Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 18.0% in the third quarter. HS Management Partners LLC now owns 298,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $94,159,000 after purchasing an additional 45,560 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $465.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $423.34.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $420.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $410.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $373.98. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $275.37 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.63 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

Microsoft 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.