496 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Acquired by Socha Financial Group LLC

Socha Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 496 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.1% of Socha Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Microsoft by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.6 %

MSFT stock opened at $359.84 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $359.48 and a 52 week high of $468.35. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $399.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $417.40. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 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 0.92%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Four investment 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, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.86.

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.