Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by AJ Advisors LLC

AJ Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,698 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.6% of AJ Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. AJ Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after buying an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Campbell Wealth Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $3,314,000. Finally, Evernest Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 389.2% during the third quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,137,000 after acquiring an additional 42,778 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $389.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $407.20 and a 200-day moving average of $419.45. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $376.91 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.