Catalyst Private Wealth LLC Purchases 125 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Catalyst Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,097 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.9% of Catalyst Private Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Catalyst Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,625,201,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 target price (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $452.85 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $456.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $422.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $408.83. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 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.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.