1,357 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bought by LifeGoal Wealth Advisors

LifeGoal Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,357 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $572,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third 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 valued at $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 27,904,450 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,007,285,000 after acquiring an additional 636,713 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $435.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $384.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $411.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.