Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Lafayette Investments Inc.

Lafayette Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,597 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.6% of Lafayette Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,587,119,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $989,814,000. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth approximately $846,072,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.47.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $415.84 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $417.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $424.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $324.39 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.74%.

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.