Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. Purchases 155 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,372 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.5% of Granite Harbor Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 82,267 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,976,000 after buying an additional 3,209 shares during the last quarter. HS Management Partners LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. HS Management Partners LLC now owns 298,208 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $94,159,000 after buying an additional 45,560 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,497,000 after buying an additional 5,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,967,000 after buying an additional 6,484 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $413.64 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $275.37 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The company has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $415.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $383.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Barclays increased their price target on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $430.52.

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.