Prentice Wealth Management LLC Acquires 318 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,035 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.5% of Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 534.5% during the second quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $69,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Raymond James increased their target price on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 5th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $423.34.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $421.43 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $272.05 and a one year high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $409.64 and its 200 day moving average is $373.65. The firm has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given 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 0.71%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.12%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.