Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is McIlrath & Eck LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 124,788 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 19,302 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 6.9% of McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $53,696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6 %

MSFT stock opened at $412.22 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $431.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $423.41. The company has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.