Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. Raises Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,273 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 4,240 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.2% of Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $4,000,376,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 277.8% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,004,341 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,633,912,000 after buying an additional 5,150,160 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 17th. Argus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $506.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $494.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $1.24 on Friday, reaching $416.79. The stock had a trading volume of 18,464,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,894,881. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $435.06 and a 200 day moving average of $422.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

About Microsoft

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.