Board of the Pension Protection Fund Invests $927,000 in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,200 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $927,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $45,000. Avondale Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $408.25 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $425.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $423.04. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (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 in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.