Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC

Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 146,778 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,581 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.6% of Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $61,867,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,501,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Sylvest Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $9,632,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 172.8% during the 4th quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 22,215 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,363,000 after purchasing an additional 14,071 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 920,479 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $388,373,000 after buying an additional 20,426 shares during the period. Finally, Precision Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 6,964 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,935,000 after acquiring an additional 1,646 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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 research note on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. 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 $390.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $376.91 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $406.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $419.25.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS 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 quarter last year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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