Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Weaver Capital Management LLC

Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,989 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 654 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.2% of Weaver Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Weaver Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares during the period. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,837 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,511,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Affinity Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Affinity Wealth Management LLC now owns 33,242 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,304,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Mizuho reduced their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.86.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $382.19 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $367.24 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $403.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $418.45. The company has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.