Southern Capital Advisors LLC Has $3.68 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Southern Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,725 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.0% of Southern Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Southern Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in Microsoft by 35.7% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management raised its stake in Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

MSFT opened at $393.08 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.65, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company’s 50 day moving average is $408.34 and its 200-day moving average is $419.63. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $376.91 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, 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 period last year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.