Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 191,443 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,180 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.2% of Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $80,693,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. OLIO Financial Planning grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. OLIO Financial Planning now owns 1,211 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,662,000. MKT Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 9,280 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,981,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC now owns 8,689 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,663,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarendon Private LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,077,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $388.56 on Monday. 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 market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $412.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $420.64. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $376.91 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 previous year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.43.

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.