Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,970,705 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 298,034 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 5.6% of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned 0.05% of Microsoft worth $1,806,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,941,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT traded up $3.80 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $452.94. The company had a trading volume of 19,864,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,511,825. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.47, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $391.20 and a 200-day moving average of $411.86. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.