Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by IMZ Advisory Inc

IMZ Advisory Inc increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,206 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.0% of IMZ Advisory Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. IMZ Advisory Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP increased its position in Microsoft by 3.0% during the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Welch Capital Partners LLC NY increased its position in Microsoft by 51.2% during the second quarter. Welch Capital Partners LLC NY now owns 3,137 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cowen AND Company LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 836.5% during the second quarter. Cowen AND Company LLC now owns 46,617 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,835,000 after purchasing an additional 41,639 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total transaction of $423,480.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $408.25 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. 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 has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $425.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $422.88.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.