Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lifted by Five Oceans Advisors

Five Oceans Advisors lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,471 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 275 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.6% of Five Oceans Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Five Oceans Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Campbell Wealth Management purchased a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $3,314,000. Finally, Evernest Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 389.2% in the 3rd quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,137,000 after buying an additional 42,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $390.58 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50 day moving average of $406.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $419.25. 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. DA Davidson raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.59.

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.