MONECO Advisors LLC Buys 9,689 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

MONECO Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 37.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,452 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,689 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.5% of MONECO Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $448.37 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $450.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $418.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $405.31.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $465.83.

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.