Bleakley Financial Group LLC Purchases 2,903 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 221,654 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,903 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.8% of Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $93,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st 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. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second 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 last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third 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 period. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 11.0% during the third quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,763 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,819,000 after buying an additional 3,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.0 %

Microsoft stock opened at $382.14 on Thursday. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $367.24 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $402.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $418.11. The company has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.86.

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.