Stack Financial Management Inc Cuts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Stack Financial Management Inc reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 241,653 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,783 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 9.3% of Stack Financial Management Inc's holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Stack Financial Management Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $101,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares during the period. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,334,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $395.26 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $383.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $410.91. The company has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective (down from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 7th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $435.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $493.89.

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.

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