Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 141,549 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,932 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.7% of Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $60,909,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after acquiring an additional 18,544 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.66.
Microsoft Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $444.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $431.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $425.82.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
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.
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