Crane Advisory LLC Grows Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Crane Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 19.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,059 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.3% of Crane Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Crane Advisory LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Ignite Planners LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 24,382 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,322,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. Tlwm increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Tlwm now owns 5,889 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,482,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the period. McNaughton Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. McNaughton Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,143 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC increased its stake in Microsoft by 113.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC now owns 5,256 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,215,000 after buying an additional 2,796 shares during the period. Finally, Cypress Financial Planning LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Cypress Financial Planning LLC now owns 1,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $723,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $408.25 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $425.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $422.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

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.