Buffington Mohr McNeal lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 81,249 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,647 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.7% of Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,050,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.5% during the first quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 159,636 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $49,217,000 after buying an additional 3,950 shares during the period. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 24,897 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,676,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. TMD Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. TMD Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,577,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Roosevelt Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Roosevelt Investment Group LLC now owns 254,473 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $78,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 106.9% in the first quarter. Parkside Investments LLC now owns 5,177 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,675 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.99% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Microsoft from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $365.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Microsoft from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $334.31.
Microsoft Trading Up 1.7 %
Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $291.91 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $241.51 and a 1-year high of $349.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $263.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.58.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The software giant reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.06). Microsoft had a net margin of 36.69% and a return on equity of 43.31%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.17 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 18th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 17th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.73%.
Microsoft Company Profile
Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, as well as related Client Access Licenses (CAL); Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.
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