Raymond James Trust N.A. Acquires 13,060 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 400,380 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,060 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.0% of Raymond James Trust N.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $150,559,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after acquiring an additional 150,053,637 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $20,700,525,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 35,465.9% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $66,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,553,188 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 119,417,954 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,638,815,000 after purchasing an additional 14,652,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 348.6% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 11,998,927 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $894,426,000 after purchasing an additional 9,324,182 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $433.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $423.34.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the transaction, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $421.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $409.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $373.65. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $272.05 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.12%.

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.