Abel Hall LLC Invests $2.78 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Abel Hall LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,404 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $2,784,000. Microsoft comprises about 2.4% of Abel Hall LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,625,201,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,591,126,000 after buying an additional 277,881 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction 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 approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 target price (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $465.83.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2 %

MSFT stock traded up $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $442.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,581,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,602,950. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $443.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $417.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $404.64.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

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.