Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Raised by West Wealth Group LLC

West Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,886 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.0% of West Wealth Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. West Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. James Hambro & Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. James Hambro & Partners LLP now owns 365,500 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $154,049,000 after buying an additional 4,639 shares during the period. Lighthouse Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $951,000. CKW Financial Group boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 10,516 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,433,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,542 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,972,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curran Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Curran Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,456 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,878,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $388.70 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $376.91 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $411.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $420.49.

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, beating 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 period last year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 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.