Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 222,876 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,025 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.5% of Moors & Cabot Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Moors & Cabot Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $93,942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares during the period. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,334,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $510.30.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Microsoft
Microsoft Stock Performance
MSFT stock traded up $4.60 during trading on Monday, hitting $458.87. 21,313,890 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,562,482. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $395.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $412.34. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 94,243 shares of company stock valued at $41,288,738 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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