WT Wealth Management Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

WT Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,380 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 779 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.1% of WT Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. WT Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,855,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased 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 valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares during the period. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,334,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays upped their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $435.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $384.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $411.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.