Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Strong Tower Advisory Services' 7th Largest Position

Strong Tower Advisory Services increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,732 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.5% of Strong Tower Advisory Services' holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Strong Tower Advisory Services' holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. 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 increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd 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 worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $4.13 on Thursday, hitting $396.89. 23,268,830 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,118,146. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $381.00 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $417.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $422.24. The company has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 prior year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $510.96.

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.