Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Bristlecone Advisors LLC

Bristlecone Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 330,429 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,696 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 10.9% of Bristlecone Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Bristlecone Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $139,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st 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 during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second 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 last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $470.00 price objective for the company. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $505.41.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $7.10 on Friday, reaching $388.45. The company had a trading volume of 23,826,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,250,515. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $391.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $414.41.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. Analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.