Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s 10th Largest Position

Hantz Financial Services Inc. cut its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 263,870 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,371 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.9% of Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $111,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first 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. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after buying an additional 49,735 shares during the period. Hoffman Alan N Investment Management boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the third quarter. Hoffman Alan N Investment Management now owns 77,217 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $33,226,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Finally, SignalPoint Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 398.0% during the third quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 71,438 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,577,000 after buying an additional 57,093 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $391.26 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $376.91 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $408.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $419.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. 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 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.59.

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.