Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Boosted by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 781,013 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,683 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 5.6% of HM Payson & Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $329,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Riverstone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,941,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $452.94 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $392.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $412.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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.