Luken Investment Analytics LLC Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Luken Investment Analytics LLC raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 48.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 614 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC now owns 8,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,530,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,377 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,688,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Ridgepath Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. Ridgepath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,720 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,989,000 after acquiring an additional 1,750 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,864,105 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $785,720,000 after acquiring an additional 151,197 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

Microsoft stock opened at $393.08 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $376.91 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $408.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $419.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. DA Davidson raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.59.

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.