Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Sells 3,157 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 345,682 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,157 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.1% of Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $145,705,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,763,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 52,869 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,056,000 after purchasing an additional 4,860 shares during the period. Guidance Capital Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 12,620 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,604,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Fusion Family Wealth LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Fusion Family Wealth LLC now owns 1,031 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $435,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Cassia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,235 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,785,000 after buying an additional 1,006 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Loop Capital raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.86.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $382.19 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $367.24 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $403.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $418.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued 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 payout ratio is 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.