Safeguard Financial LLC Purchases 1,476 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Safeguard Financial LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 28.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,691 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,476 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.9% of Safeguard Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Safeguard Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Cooksen Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $86,000. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $87,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were 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 $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other 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 transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Citigroup upped their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $467.12.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $449.78 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $450.94. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $419.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $407.17. 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 company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.