Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Grows Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 767,392 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 4,102 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 5.4% of Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT's holdings in Microsoft were worth $323,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $809,000. PYA Waltman Capital LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. PYA Waltman Capital LLC now owns 4,627 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,950,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 64,567 shares of the software giant's stock worth $27,215,000 after buying an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Grove Street Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $1,297,000. Finally, Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 60,772 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,615,000 after buying an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2 %

MSFT stock traded up $4.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $391.85. 18,959,931 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,169,050. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $384.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $411.41. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company posted $2.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 26.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush dropped their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 target price (down previously from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $493.13.

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.