Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 33,095 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.6% of Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 7.6% during the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $399.73 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $422.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $423.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.18, 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total value of $874,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 51,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,675,916.64. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 7,000 shares of company stock worth $3,070,340 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

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.