Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Acquires 3,589 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 155.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,896 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,589 shares during the quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Dechtman Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 67.6% during the third quarter. Dechtman Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,259 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,608,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330 shares during the last quarter. City State Bank boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.5% during the third quarter. City State Bank now owns 13,198 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,167,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 193,348 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $61,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Powell Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 25.6% in the third quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,067 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,284,000 after purchasing an additional 829 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,025,258 shares of company stock worth $12,160,356 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 target price (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $8.82 during trading on Friday, reaching $406.66. 17,446,724 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,613,484. 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’s fifty day moving average is $413.68 and its 200 day moving average is $390.05. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $303.40 and a 1 year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend 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.