Signet Financial Management LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Signet Financial Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,470 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 801 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.6% of Signet Financial Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Signet Financial Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Catalyst Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,266 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Marion Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 15,242 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,099 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,521,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 368,878 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $155,482,000 after buying an additional 62,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,136 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,743,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $408.25 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $425.20 and a 200-day moving average of $422.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho cut their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Microsoft 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.