Baskin Financial Services Inc. Cuts Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Baskin Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 147,802 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 716 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 5.0% of Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $62,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 180.8% in the third quarter. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,414 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,330,000 after acquiring an additional 3,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walker Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. Walker Financial Services Inc. now owns 8,347 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,592,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $378.80 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $405.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $418.97. The stock has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $376.91 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend 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.