Empower Advisory Group LLC Purchases 16,949 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 887,052 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,949 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.3% of Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $373,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $499.97.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $367.78 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $388.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $412.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.