Forum Private Client Group LLC Makes New Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Forum Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,097 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $412,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% during the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,422,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after acquiring an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,919,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.2% during the first quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% during the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $411.84 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $415.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $384.15. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $275.37 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $431.03.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.