GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 114,584 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,096 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.0% of GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $49,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 180.8% in the third quarter. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,414 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,330,000 after purchasing an additional 3,486 shares during the period. Finally, Walker Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Walker Financial Services Inc. now owns 8,347 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,592,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

MSFT stock traded up $6.80 on Tuesday, reaching $382.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,648,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,595,340. The firm has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $403.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $418.45. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $367.24 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Westpark Capital initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $508.86.

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.