Wealth Alliance Decreases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wealth Alliance decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 40,372 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,415 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.0% of Wealth Alliance’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sunpointe LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 15,170 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,394,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. LMG Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 34,209 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,419,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2,033.8% in the fourth quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC now owns 20,911 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,814,000 after buying an additional 19,931 shares during the period. Corps Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,214,000. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 180,367 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,025,000 after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank began coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.80.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.1 %

MSFT opened at $374.58 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $2.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $385.70 and a 200 day moving average of $411.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Microsoft’s payout ratio 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.