Costello Asset Management INC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,890 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,701 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 7.2% of Costello Asset Management INC's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Costello Asset Management INC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 44,685 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $19,228,000 after acquiring an additional 3,663 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 16,731 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,430 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $470.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.59.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $11.78 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $378.80. 21,606,792 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,523,498. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $405.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $419.06. The company has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. 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 52 week low of $376.91 and a 52 week high of $468.35.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 26.73%.
Microsoft Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Before you consider Microsoft, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Microsoft wasn't on the list.
While Microsoft currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Need to stretch out your 401K or Roth IRA plan? Use these time-tested investing strategies to grow the monthly retirement income that your stock portfolio generates.
Get This Free Report
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.
