Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. Takes $1.30 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,454 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,299,000. Microsoft makes up 0.6% of Yeomans Consulting Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth $87,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 160.7% during the fourth quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction 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 approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Macquarie raised their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.83.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $448.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.82, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $450.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $418.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $405.31.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 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.