Stratos Investment Management LLC Has $31 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Stratos Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 73,543 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.9% of Stratos Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,763,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. Sargent Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 52,869 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $22,056,000 after purchasing an additional 4,860 shares in the last quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 12,620 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,604,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Fusion Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Fusion Family Wealth LLC now owns 1,031 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Cassia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,235 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,785,000 after buying an additional 1,006 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Westpark Capital started coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.86.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $382.19 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $403.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $418.45. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $367.24 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.87%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.