5,098 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bought by Accordant Advisory Group Inc

Accordant Advisory Group Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,098 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $2,145,000. Microsoft accounts for 1.6% of Accordant Advisory Group Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $69,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently 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 Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s 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 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $7.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $406.32. The company had a trading volume of 29,640,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,152,042. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $295.25 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $414.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $387.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 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 issued 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 dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Macquarie raised their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price objective (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

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.