Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Castellan Group’s 2nd Largest Position

Castellan Group cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,364 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 790 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.7% of Castellan Group’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Castellan Group’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Beckerman Institutional LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Beckerman Institutional LLC now owns 1,951 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $822,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 3,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,329,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Howard Bailey Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC now owns 8,176 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,446,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 5,362 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,259,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 14,091 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,939,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.9 %

Microsoft stock opened at $388.45 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $391.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $414.41. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35. 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 company has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $505.41.

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.