Elm Partners Management LLC Invests $203,000 in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Elm Partners Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 471 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $444.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $430.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $512.66.

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.