Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Increased by Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC

Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,360 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 296 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.8% of Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,714,197,000 after purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,824,173,000 after buying an additional 1,951,554 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,302,677,000 after buying an additional 556,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after buying an additional 150,053,637 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $404.27 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $275.37 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day moving average of $415.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $384.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $432.13.

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.