Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Acquires 14,570 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 784,164 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 14,570 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.9% of Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $330,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $438.73. 15,313,766 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,422,206. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $389.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $411.74. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. 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 MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $507.77.

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.