McIlrath & Eck LLC Has $53.70 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 124,788 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,302 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 6.9% of McIlrath & Eck LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $53,696,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP grew its position in Microsoft by 3.0% in the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP bought a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $3,413,000. Finally, Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,873 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,882,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $412.22 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $431.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $423.41.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.