Prudent Investors Network Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Prudent Investors Network Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,484 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,641 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.5% of Prudent Investors Network Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Prudent Investors Network Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth 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 increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $378.80 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $376.91 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a P/E 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 200 day moving average is $419.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 business posted $2.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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.