Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Dana Investment Advisors Inc.

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 269,134 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 7,756 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.7% of Dana Investment Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $113,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,127,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,056,059 shares of the software giant's stock worth $866,629,000 after purchasing an additional 24,178 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 59,138 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $24,927,000 after acquiring an additional 10,676 shares during the period. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,140,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 29,014 shares of the software giant's stock worth $12,229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,716 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America cut their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.0%

Microsoft stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $449.14. The company had a trading volume of 22,927,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,468,471. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.16, a PEG 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. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $390.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $411.71. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.