Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lowered by Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC

Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,359 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 84 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.2% of Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BCK Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,380,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, 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. Five 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, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $497.63.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $366.82 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $386.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $411.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.