Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,887 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth $28,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 534.5% in the second quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $601,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter worth $69,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Raymond James boosted their target price on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Argus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 5th. China Renaissance started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $466.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $423.34.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $421.43 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $409.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $373.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.10, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $272.05 and a 52 week high of $430.82.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft Company 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.