Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Compass Ion Advisors LLC

Compass Ion Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,898 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.9% of Compass Ion Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Compass Ion Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $679,928,000. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Microsoft by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,749,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 243.6% in the 3rd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,151,555 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $679,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,367 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $414.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $387.70. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $295.25 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 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 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

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.