Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 504,519 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 7,745 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.0% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Microsoft were worth $212,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $507.77.
Read Our Latest Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Performance
Shares of MSFT opened at $425.40 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $384.18 and a 200-day moving average of $411.01. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. 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 company has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.
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.
Further Reading
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