Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc.

Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,695 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 318 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.3% of Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after buying an additional 652,493 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after buying an additional 406,940 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $389.97 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $407.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $419.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.40, a P/E/G 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid 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 26.73%.

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.