Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV Raises Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,081 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the quarter. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 239,558 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $100,974,000 after purchasing an additional 44,333 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its holdings in Microsoft by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 10,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Benin Management CORP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 62,613 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $26,391,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,422 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 9,442 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,980,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $378.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. 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. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $413.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $420.77. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $376.91 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Mizuho reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Company 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.