Detalus Advisors LLC Purchases 121 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Detalus Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,590 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.1% of Detalus Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Detalus Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during 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 worth $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,228,502 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,898,314,000 after purchasing an additional 324,052 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $438.00 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. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $388.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $411.61.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.77.

About Microsoft

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.