Prakash Investment Advisors LLC Invests $3 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Prakash Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 7,121 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $3,001,000. Microsoft comprises about 3.0% of Prakash Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mattern Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 38,932 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,410,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 71,927 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,317,000 after purchasing an additional 989 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 3,483,360 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,468,236,000 after purchasing an additional 127,575 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Sun Financial Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacific Sun Financial Corp now owns 4,371 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Brien Greene & Co. Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 21,692 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,143,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush lowered their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $493.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $387.30 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $385.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $411.53.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders 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 0.86%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.