RFG Holdings Inc. Acquires 662 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

RFG Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 44.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,160 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 662 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 0.4% of RFG Holdings Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. RFG Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $909,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,591,126,000 after acquiring an additional 277,881 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Macquarie upped their target price on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 target price (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $467.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $460.77 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $426.26 and its 200 day moving average is $411.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $461.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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