G&S Capital LLC Acquires 542 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

G&S Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,762 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. G&S Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Financial Security Advisor Inc. increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,238,000 after buying an additional 18,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,967,000 after buying an additional 6,484 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. New Street Research began coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $460.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of $426.26 and a 200-day moving average of $411.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $461.02.

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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,686,433. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.