BSW Wealth Partners Has $7.16 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BSW Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,026 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.2% of BSW Wealth Partners’ holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. BSW Wealth Partners’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $86,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 price objective (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target for the company. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $454.70.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock traded down $3.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $427.00. 17,196,191 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,344,988. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $416.05 and a 200 day moving average of $397.95. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $433.60. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

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.