Compound Global Advisors LLC Has $32.51 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Compound Global Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,443 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,584 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 6.0% of Compound Global Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Compound Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Financial Security Advisor Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,255,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the third 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. RNC Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after buying an additional 6,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in Microsoft by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,516,000 after buying an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays raised their price target on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $406.32 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $414.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $388.51. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $295.25 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued 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 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.