Legacy Trust Purchases 1,285 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Legacy Trust grew its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,534 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,285 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.5% of Legacy Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Legacy Trust’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jacobsen Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 12,515 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,706,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Trust Co. N A boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Arvest Trust Co. N A now owns 11,923 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,484,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 33,521 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,605,000 after purchasing an additional 3,766 shares in the last quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,255,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,294,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $414.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $388.12. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $295.25 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 target price (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.