Brown Financial Advisory Purchases New Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brown Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 648 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000. Microsoft comprises about 0.2% of Brown Financial Advisory’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 28,316 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,935,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Trinity Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,146 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Custom Index Systems LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 8,373 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,529,000 after buying an additional 1,111 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $5,626,000. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 23,957 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,098,000 after acquiring an additional 1,810 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $395.16 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.82, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $376.91 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $407.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $419.53.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. 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 (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.