Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC

Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,558 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,625,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,749,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,369,562,000 after acquiring an additional 88,583 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $394.94 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $414.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $389.48. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $303.40 and a twelve month high of $430.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. In other 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 transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

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.