NewEdge Wealth LLC Has $198.19 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 527,040 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 71,013 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.1% of NewEdge Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $198,188,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $9,625,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Microsoft by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,749,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,369,562,000 after acquiring an additional 88,583 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $412.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $413.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $392.17. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $306.26 and a one year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

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

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.