R Squared Ltd Purchases New Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,410 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $594,000. Microsoft makes up about 0.6% of R Squared Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd 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. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Campbell Wealth Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth $3,314,000. Finally, Evernest Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 389.2% during the third quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,137,000 after purchasing an additional 42,778 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $386.84 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $409.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $419.85. The firm has a market cap of $2.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $376.91 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 prior year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.