Lesa Sroufe & Co Purchases New Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lesa Sroufe & Co acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 20,350 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $7,639,000. Microsoft makes up about 7.6% of Lesa Sroufe & Co's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $120,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $2.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $513.71. 19,103,456 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,594,816. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $483.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $431.52. The company has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $518.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $530.00 target price (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $551.21.

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.