ERn Financial LLC Grows Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

ERn Financial LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,248 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 175 shares during the quarter. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $86,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 160.7% in the fourth quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3 %

MSFT opened at $460.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $461.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $427.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $411.76.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. New Street Research started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $467.12.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.