Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Boosted by Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc.

Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 132,356 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 339 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.8% of Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $55,788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after acquiring an additional 49,735 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $359.84 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $359.48 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $399.08 and a 200-day moving average of $417.40.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Westpark Capital began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.86.

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.