Carlson Capital L.P. Takes $464,000 Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Carlson Capital L.P. purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,100 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $464,000. Microsoft makes up about 0.3% of Carlson Capital L.P.'s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,761 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,428,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,174,000. Sincerus Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $327,000. Red Crane Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $596,000. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 88,123 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $37,144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,829 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $9.88 on Friday, reaching $435.28. 30,732,671 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,356,359. The company has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $384.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $411.12. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Microsoft 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.