Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Cut by Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc.

Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,359 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 649 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.3% of Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vivid Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vivid Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,220 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,043,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $5,899,000. Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $920,000. Members Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 27,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,471,000 after buying an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hickory Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,942,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $499.97.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $367.78 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $389.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $413.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 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.