Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 38.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,375 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sicart Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,592 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Triton Wealth Management PLLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Triton Wealth Management PLLC now owns 5,864 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,167,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $692,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,025,258 shares of company stock worth $12,160,356 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.2 %

Microsoft stock opened at $406.66 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $303.40 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $413.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $390.05.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.