SouthState Corp Has $91.22 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

SouthState Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 216,415 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 21,569 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.0% of SouthState Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. SouthState Corp's holdings in Microsoft were worth $91,219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,980,299,000 after purchasing an additional 217,509 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0%

Microsoft stock opened at $450.18 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $402.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $413.88.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.