Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Boosted by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,622,581 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 140,712 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.6% of Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $683,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Microsoft by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $438.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $389.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $411.74.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.