Cerity Partners LLC Has $2.63 Billion Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 277.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,004,341 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,150,160 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 4.5% of Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Cerity Partners LLC owned about 0.09% of Microsoft worth $2,633,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $87,000. Family CFO Inc increased its holdings in Microsoft by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 647.8% in the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $146,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 target price (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $409.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $306.09 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $413.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $392.05. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.44, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.