Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. Purchases New Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,368 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $998,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.0% of Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Microsoft by 46.1% during the third 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 during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $7.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $388.45. 23,826,330 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,250,515. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $391.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $414.41. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. 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 company has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 26.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $505.41.

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.