Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,936 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 5,559 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.5% of Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $87,000. Cordant Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 647.8% in the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Family CFO Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $146,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price target (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

Microsoft stock opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $303.40 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $414.45 and its 200-day moving average is $389.01. The company has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

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.