International Assets Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 68,068 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 68,068 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $25,596,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $87,000. Family CFO Inc increased its position in Microsoft by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $146,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,025,258 shares of company stock valued at $12,160,356. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 price objective (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp began coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $406.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $303.40 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $413.76 and a 200-day moving average of $389.54. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

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.