Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,911 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,663 shares during the quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after acquiring an additional 406,940 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $505.41.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $381.35 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $392.37 and a 200 day moving average of $414.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.70, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 issued 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 26.73%.

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.