Western Pacific Wealth Management LP Buys 367 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Western Pacific Wealth Management LP grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,003 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 367 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.0% of Western Pacific Wealth Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,471,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Bellevue Group AG grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $415.55 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $468.35. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $435.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $422.62.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 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.