Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Cypress Capital Group's 4th Largest Position

Cypress Capital Group lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,493 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,550 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.2% of Cypress Capital Group's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Cypress Capital Group's holdings in Microsoft were worth $34,349,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $141,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT traded up $0.56 on Friday, hitting $438.73. 15,313,766 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,454,441. 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 $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $389.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $411.63.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 $0.83 dividend. 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 (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.