Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Westover Capital Advisors LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Westover Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 40,714 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.8% of Westover Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Westover Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th 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 during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% in 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 during the period. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverstone Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,941,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $438.73 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $389.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $411.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

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.