Segment Wealth Management LLC Has $24.75 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Segment Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 65,807 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.2% of Segment Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Segment Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $24,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter worth $87,000. Cordant Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 647.8% during the fourth quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Family CFO Inc increased its position in Microsoft by 13.6% during the third quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $146,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.2 %

Microsoft stock opened at $406.66 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $303.40 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $413.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $390.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,025,258 shares of company stock valued at $12,160,356 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.