Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Crestwood Advisors Group LLC

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 556,183 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 7,553 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 4.4% of Crestwood Advisors Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $234,431,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,204,664,000 after acquiring an additional 49,735 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Trading Up 7.6 %

MSFT traded up $30.14 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $425.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 58,840,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,314,175. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $383.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $410.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.25, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

About Microsoft

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.