J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Buys 1,466 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 116,404 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,466 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.0% of J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $49,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in Microsoft by 46.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,032,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 43,900.4% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $860,913,000 after buying an additional 2,037,857 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $499.97.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $3.83 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $367.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,940,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,246,383. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $388.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $412.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. 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 released 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.