Steph & Co. Acquires 281 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 29.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,228 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $86,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 160.7% in the 4th quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related 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 transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 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 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. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price objective (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 price objective (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $467.12.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $446.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $424.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $409.66. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $456.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during 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 revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

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.