Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Increased by Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc.

Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,649 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 781 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 8.2% of Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,861,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,852 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,219,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. Horan Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 6,706 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,827,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $336,409,000. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 44,681 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $18,833,000 after buying an additional 745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kendall Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 2,539 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,070,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $509.16.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $453.13. 21,913,513 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,510,806. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $392.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $412.14. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Company 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.