Corrado Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Corrado Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,481 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 65 shares during the period. Corrado Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after acquiring an additional 406,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 27,904,450 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,007,285,000 after acquiring an additional 636,713 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.3 %

MSFT opened at $435.28 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $384.93 and its 200-day moving average is $411.12. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.77.

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.