Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 158,745 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 723 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 9.8% of Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $66,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $141,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $0.89 on Monday, reaching $436.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,112,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,367,112. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $384.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $411.03. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The business's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.