Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Increased by Private Client Services LLC

Private Client Services LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,508 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.5% of Private Client Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Private Client Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,743,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,763,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the second quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 26,307 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,758,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,046,422 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $914,648,000 after purchasing an additional 20,253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,931,278.28. This trade represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $408.43 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $428.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $422.92. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Microsoft 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.