Wedmont Private Capital Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,883 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 9,681 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.2% of Wedmont Private Capital's portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Wedmont Private Capital's holdings in Microsoft were worth $42,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after buying an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position 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 valued at $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.4 %

MSFT traded down $5.77 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $410.36. 13,673,038 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,098,506. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $425.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $422.79. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.03, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90.

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 (EPS) 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 previous year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 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.