Delta Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Delta Financial Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,340 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 84 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.8% of Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Riverstone Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,941,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $425.40 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $384.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $411.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

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.