Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Lifted by Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 46.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 196,439 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 62,322 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.5% of Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $82,799,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Microsoft by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in Microsoft by 46.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in 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 valued at $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $383.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $376.91 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company’s fifty day moving average is $410.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $420.28. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.87%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

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.