W Advisors LLC Has $6.59 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

W Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,644 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.1% of W Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. W Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC now owns 9,826 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,142,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 151,446 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,834,000 after purchasing an additional 2,740 shares during the last quarter. Sound Stewardship LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Sound Stewardship LLC now owns 2,575 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,085,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. Warner Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Warner Financial Inc. now owns 2,842 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,198,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TRU Independence Asset Management 2 LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. TRU Independence Asset Management 2 LLC now owns 4,550 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,918,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $387.82 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $376.91 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $410.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $420.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.23, a P/E/G 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.