Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. Has $25.23 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,848 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 3,294 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 0.9% of Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd 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. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,334,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $510.30.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $458.17 on Wednesday. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $398.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $413.04. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 110,243 shares of company stock valued at $48,619,618. 0.03% of the stock is 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.

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