Prospera Private Wealth LLC Has $14.17 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Prospera Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 551.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,935 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,878 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.6% of Prospera Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Prospera Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,172,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after acquiring an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $512.66.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $444.06 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $431.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $425.54. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.