Manuka Financial LLC Takes $672,000 Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Manuka Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 1,594 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $672,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.5% of Manuka Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Five Pine Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 28,102 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,845,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners grew its stake in Microsoft by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 43,835 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,476,000 after acquiring an additional 2,093 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA increased its holdings in Microsoft by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 32,262 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,599,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 105,099 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $44,621,000 after purchasing an additional 13,081 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $395.16 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $407.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $419.53. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $376.91 and a one year high of $468.35. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.59.

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.