Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by First Command Advisory Services Inc.

First Command Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,196 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,980,299,000 after buying an additional 217,509 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $435.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $384.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $411.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. 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.