By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 186,292 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,139 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.3% of Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $78,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 4,601 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,939,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 202,704 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $85,440,000 after buying an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 49,514 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,870,000 after buying an additional 1,801 shares during the period. Tudor Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. now owns 5,060 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,133,000 after buying an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 98,131 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,362,000 after acquiring an additional 1,573 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft
Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %
MSFT stock opened at $396.89 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $381.00 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $417.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $422.06.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft 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.
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