Financial Enhancement Group LLC Acquires 83 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Financial Enhancement Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,997 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 2,663 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners increased its position in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $646,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sicart Associates LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $459.28 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $459.59. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $425.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $410.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.76, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

About Microsoft

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.