RNC Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

RNC Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,511 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,017 shares during the quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,563,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tandem Financial LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,123,000. Socha Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $209,000. American Financial & Tax Strategies Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. American Financial & Tax Strategies Inc. now owns 1,207 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 43,900.4% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $860,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,037,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leo Wealth LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 43,199 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,111,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank began coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $508.86.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $359.84 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $359.48 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $399.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $417.40. 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 data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.