Alexis Investment Partners LLC Takes $1.89 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Alexis Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,466 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,888,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.9% of Alexis Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,675,715,000 after acquiring an additional 1,823,579 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 39,829,031 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,787,934,000 after acquiring an additional 1,408,374 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock traded up $4.18 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $479.14. 15,576,985 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,515,567. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $480.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $418.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.68.

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.