Brio Consultants LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brio Consultants LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,388 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the period. Brio Consultants LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BCK Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverstone Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,941,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $389.97 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $376.91 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $407.20 and a 200 day moving average of $419.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period last year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.