C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,676 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,216 shares during the quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Traction Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Traction Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 75,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,927,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Waycross Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 119,931 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,551,000 after purchasing an additional 2,187 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 66,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,075,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 63,147 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $26,616,000 after buying an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush lowered their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $497.63.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $359.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.91, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $387.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $412.30. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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 0.92%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Microsoft 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.