Kidder Stephen W Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kidder Stephen W grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,270 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.5% of Kidder Stephen W’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Kidder Stephen W’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $120,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

MSFT opened at $472.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.06, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $473.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $419.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $417.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.59.

Microsoft Company 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.