Provident Wealth Management LLC Has $1.09 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Provident Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,587 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 72 shares during the quarter. Provident Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,090,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management raised its stake in Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Barclays raised their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. 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 note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $425.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.25, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $384.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $411.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.