James Investment Research Inc. Sells 1,362 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

James Investment Research Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 84,458 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,362 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.2% of James Investment Research Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. James Investment Research Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $35,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $367.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $388.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $412.78. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $499.97.

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.