Signal Advisors Wealth LLC Grows Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,651 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,898 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.1% of Signal Advisors Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings 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 raised its holdings 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 raised its holdings 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 raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 836.5% in the second quarter. Cowen AND Company LLC now owns 46,617 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,835,000 after acquiring an additional 41,639 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $408.25 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $425.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $422.88. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares in the company, valued at $23,203,211.24. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.