ABC Arbitrage SA Makes New Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,540 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,492,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after buying an additional 18,544 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Campbell Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $3,314,000. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 42,176 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,148,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $371.61 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $390.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $413.52. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Westpark Capital initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, March 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $499.97.

About Microsoft

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.