Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Has $6.18 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,655 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 277 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.4% of Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Safeguard Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Safeguard Financial LLC now owns 8,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,552,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Wealth Management Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Capstone Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 7,619 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,211,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares during the period. 626 Financial LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. 626 Financial LLC now owns 19,063 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,035,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 9,309 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Finally, Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,458 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total value of $1,077,175.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,203,211.24. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.9 %

MSFT stock opened at $408.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. 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. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $425.20 and a 200-day moving average of $423.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.