Financial Strategies Group Inc. Increases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Financial Strategies Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,881 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.4% of Financial Strategies Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Financial Strategies Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $378.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50 day moving average is $405.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $419.06. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $376.91 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.