Hardy Reed LLC Acquires 763 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hardy Reed LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,504 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 763 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.0% of Hardy Reed LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Hardy Reed LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,593,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Advyzon Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,386,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Microsoft by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 3,603,020 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,518,673,000 after acquiring an additional 251,800 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 18,052 shares during the period. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 12,943 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,456,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, WealthCare Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC now owns 6,966 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,916,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $430.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $493.89.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2 %

MSFT traded down $0.69 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $391.16. 16,533,069 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,150,692. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company's fifty day moving average price is $384.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $411.17. The company has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

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.