Grange Capital LLC Invests $3.24 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Grange Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,694 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $3,243,000. Microsoft comprises about 3.4% of Grange Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,314,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $388.56 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $412.43 and its 200-day moving average is $420.55. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $376.91 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 company has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 prior year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

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.