Joule Financial LLC Purchases New Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Joule Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,233 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,592,000. Microsoft comprises about 0.7% of Joule Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,554 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $50,302,677,000 after acquiring an additional 556,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after acquiring an additional 150,053,637 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $423.34.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $420.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $275.37 and a twelve month high of $430.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $410.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $374.31. The firm has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.04, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

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.