Austin Private Wealth LLC Grows Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,957 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,810 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.9% of Austin Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Austin Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 35,995 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,684 shares in the last quarter. Southern Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Southern Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,725 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,678,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 34,896 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,709,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC now owns 55,355 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,332,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Country Trust Bank lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 434,167 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $183,001,000 after acquiring an additional 8,202 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $395.16 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $376.91 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $407.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $419.53.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Microsoft Company 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.