Sylvest Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 22,853 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sylvest Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 22,853 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $9,632,000. Microsoft accounts for 5.9% of Sylvest Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SYM FINANCIAL Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 172.8% in the 4th quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 22,215 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,363,000 after acquiring an additional 14,071 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 920,479 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $388,373,000 after purchasing an additional 20,426 shares in the last quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 6,964 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,646 shares during the period. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 46,550 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,621,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,695 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,194,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $390.58 on Friday. 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 has a 50 day moving average of $406.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $419.25. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $376.91 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered 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. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft 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.