J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Purchases 1,466 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 116,404 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,466 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.0% of J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $49,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BCK Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,380,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Riverstone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,941,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $499.97.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $367.78 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $388.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $412.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Microsoft Company 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.