Peregrine Investment Management Inc. Takes $9.35 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Peregrine Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 22,187 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $9,352,000. Microsoft makes up about 5.4% of Peregrine Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management increased its position in Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Wedbush lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 price target (down from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $499.97.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $367.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. 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 fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The business’s fifty day moving average is $389.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $413.21.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors 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 yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.