Sylvest Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 22,853 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sylvest Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 22,853 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $9,632,000. Microsoft makes up 5.9% of Sylvest Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after buying an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.5% in the third quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 9,723 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,184,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 4,219 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,815,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $390.58 on Friday. 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 cap of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $406.52 and a 200-day moving average of $419.25.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.59.

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.