Family Investment Center Inc. Grows Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Family Investment Center Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,756 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 124 shares during the quarter. Family Investment Center Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Stordahl Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stordahl Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,742 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 14,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,537,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, 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 approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT traded down $4.07 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $402.25. 19,566,752 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,087,611. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $303.40 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $414.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $389.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. 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.