U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 122,823 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,621 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.6% of U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $51,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% during 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. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 9,723 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,184,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 4,219 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,815,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $390.58 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $376.91 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $406.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $419.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

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 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective 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, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.59.

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.