Palacios Wealth Management LLC Invests $2.22 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Palacios Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 5,240 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $2,220,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.4% of Palacios Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st 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 Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,204,664,000 after buying an additional 49,735 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised 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 last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $3.83 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $367.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,940,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,246,383. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $388.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $412.73. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $499.97.

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.