Optas LLC Purchases 1,490 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Optas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,880 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,490 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.8% of Optas LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Optas LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first 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 period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake 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 valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased 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 buying an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 466,344 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $200,664,000 after buying an additional 10,140 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 522,876 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $224,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,464 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $378.80 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization 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 one year low of $376.91 and a one year high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $405.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $419.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.59.

Microsoft 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.