West Tower Group LLC Acquires New Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

West Tower Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,200 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $506,000. Microsoft makes up about 1.1% of West Tower Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,228,502 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $11,898,314,000 after purchasing an additional 324,052 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $1.55 during trading on Thursday, hitting $458.91. The company had a trading volume of 2,829,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,517,713. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $406.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $414.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company 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.