MBE Wealth Management LLC Has $619,000 Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

MBE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,646 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. MBE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $9,625,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Microsoft by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,749,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,369,562,000 after acquiring an additional 88,583 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 price target (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $409.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $413.84 and its 200-day moving average is $392.05. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.44, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $306.09 and a 52-week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.