Vawter Financial Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Vawter Financial Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,014 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Vawter Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Campbell Wealth Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $3,314,000. Finally, Centric Wealth Management lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,789,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $359.12 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $387.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $412.30. 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 cap of $2.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $2.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $497.63.

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.