Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Trimmed by Matisse Capital

Matisse Capital lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,049 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 673 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.7% of Matisse Capital’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Matisse Capital’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after buying an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 41.3% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 173,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $74,572,000 after buying an additional 50,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,631 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,423,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Down 3.0 %

Microsoft stock opened at $378.80 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $405.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $419.10. The company has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. 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 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 previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.