Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $44.62 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,855 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.2% of Essex Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $44,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after purchasing 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 shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $505.41.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $381.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $392.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $414.81.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS 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 prior year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

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.