Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Increased by Waycross Investment Management Co

Waycross Investment Management Co grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,490 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 220 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.3% of Waycross Investment Management Co’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Waycross Investment Management Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,572,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $69,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 target price (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $7.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $406.32. The company had a trading volume of 29,640,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,152,042. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $414.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $388.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $295.25 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.75 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.