Joel Adams & Associates Inc. Buys New Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Joel Adams & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,708 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $720,000. Microsoft makes up 0.7% of Joel Adams & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in Microsoft by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 43,900.4% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $860,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037,857 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $366.82 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $386.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $411.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $497.63.

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.