Cook Wealth Management Group LLC Has $3.07 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cook Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 46.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,624 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,434 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.9% of Cook Wealth Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Cook Wealth Management Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 89.0% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at $87,000. Family CFO Inc increased its holdings in Microsoft by 13.6% in the third quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 647.8% in the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $146,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays raised their target price on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4 %

MSFT stock traded up $1.78 during trading on Thursday, hitting $412.32. 13,597,282 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,796,625. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.70, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $306.26 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $413.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $392.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.