Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 561.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 993,452 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 843,163 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 7.2% of Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $418,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 6,516 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Prospector Partners LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 22,142 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,333,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Garrison Point Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 110.5% in the 4th quarter. Garrison Point Advisors LLC now owns 33,736 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $14,220,000 after purchasing an additional 17,710 shares during the period. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,456 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,515,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135 shares during the period. Finally, Polymer Capital Management HK LTD increased its stake in Microsoft by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD now owns 10,897 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,593,000 after buying an additional 1,297 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $565.00 price objective (up from $515.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft
Microsoft Price Performance
NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $3.24 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $478.20. 8,610,551 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,488,968. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $480.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $428.05 and a 200 day moving average of $418.55.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.
Insider Activity
In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm'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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
About Microsoft
(
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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