Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Meeder Asset Management Inc.

Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 165.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 270,943 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 168,871 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 7.9% of Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $101,885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Family CFO Inc boosted its stake in Microsoft by 13.6% in the third quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 647.8% in the fourth quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $146,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.4 %

Microsoft stock opened at $394.94 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $303.40 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The company’s 50-day moving average is $414.03 and its 200-day moving average is $389.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

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.