Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Boosted by Berkshire Bank

Berkshire Bank boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,593 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,172 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.3% of Berkshire Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after acquiring an additional 406,940 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $383.52 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $410.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $420.28. 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 $2.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 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 prior year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

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.