S. R. Schill & Associates Raises Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

S. R. Schill & Associates boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,101 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.9% of S. R. Schill & Associates’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. S. R. Schill & Associates’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,414,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second 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 last quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.2% in the third quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,747 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in Microsoft by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,514,189 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $651,556,000 after purchasing an additional 97,893 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $383.52 on Wednesday. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $376.91 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day moving average is $410.87 and its 200 day moving average is $420.28.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 period last year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.43.

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.