Proficio Capital Partners LLC Acquires 16,788,816 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.1% of Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned about 0.23% of Microsoft worth $7,096,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 708,591 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $298,671,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 61,000 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,712,000 after purchasing an additional 2,441 shares during the period. WT Wealth Management grew its position in Microsoft by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. WT Wealth Management now owns 23,380 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,855,000 after purchasing an additional 779 shares during the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 1,318,711 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $555,837,000 after purchasing an additional 26,700 shares during the period. Finally, K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 77,051 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,252,000 after purchasing an additional 7,410 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Raymond James increased their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Securities raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note 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, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $435.28 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $384.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $411.07. The company has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.