Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. Has $852.50 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,085,394 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 299,153 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 10.3% of Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $852,496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $391.26 on Friday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $408.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $419.65. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $376.91 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio 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.