Westend Capital Management LLC Makes New $11.43 Million Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 27,161 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $11,427,000. Microsoft makes up 4.4% of Westend Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $446.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $424.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $409.66. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $309.45 and a 52-week high of $456.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.70, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.