Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Acquires 151 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 85,341 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.8% of Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $38,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 282,295 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $118,766,000 after purchasing an additional 5,044 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in Microsoft by 5.1% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 80,247 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $34,208,000 after buying an additional 3,902 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New Hampshire lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 15.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 36,567 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,384,000 after buying an additional 4,913 shares during the period. Grassi Investment Management boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.9% during the first quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 162,755 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grandview Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC now owns 39,246 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,512,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

MSFT opened at $418.78 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $324.39 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $419.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.26, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.