Ellsworth Advisors LLC Has $6.39 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 48.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,152 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,933 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.7% of Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of 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. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $388.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $381.00 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $418.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $422.36. 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, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.