Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 22.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 221,381 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 40,917 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.7% of Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $93,312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $11,240,000. Element Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 264.9% in the second quarter. Element Capital Management LLC now owns 48,321 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $21,597,000 after purchasing an additional 35,077 shares during the period. Finally, Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV boosted its stake in Microsoft by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV now owns 5,559 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total transaction of $874,640.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 51,852 shares in the company, valued at $22,675,916.64. The trade was a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 7,000 shares of company stock worth $3,070,340 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2 %

MSFT opened at $397.12 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $420.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $422.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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 prior year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

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.