Curated Wealth Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Curated Wealth Partners LLC cut its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,651 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.8% of Curated Wealth Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Curated Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Benin Management CORP raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 62,613 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $26,391,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,422 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,021,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Midwest Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 9,442 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,980,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 108.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 360,474 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $151,940,000 after purchasing an additional 187,171 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional grew its holdings in Microsoft by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 78,402 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $33,047,000 after purchasing an additional 11,082 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $378.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $413.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $420.77. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $376.91 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Mizuho dropped their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.43.

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.