Ellis Investment Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ellis Investment Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,806 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 446 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.7% of Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $141,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $499.97.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $367.78 on Friday. 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 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $389.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $413.21.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (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 in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.