Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The company owned 55,743 shares of the software giant after purchasing an additional 1,336 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 6.3% of Kozak & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th-largest holding. Kozak & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,467,000 at the time of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant worth $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s shares.

Wall Street analysts weigh in

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. New Street Research initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target on the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $506.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

Check out our latest analysis on Microsoft

Insiders place their bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available on the SEC website. 0.03% of the shares are currently held by company insiders.

Microsoft shares drop 2.0%

Shares of Microsoft opened at $415.55 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one-year low of $309.45 and a one-year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price/earnings ratio of 35.98, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $435.57 and a 200-day moving average of $422.62.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the year-ago quarter, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue increased 15.2% compared to the year-ago quarter. Analysts on average predict that Microsoft Co. will post $13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will receive a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date for this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Microsoft Company Profile

(Free Report)

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 on-premises licensing, and other Office services.

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