Breakwater Capital Group Boosts Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Breakwater Capital Group raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 18.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,234 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 3,536 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.5% of Breakwater Capital Group's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Breakwater Capital Group's holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during 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 buying an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group restated a "positive" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $530.00 price target (up previously from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $524.71.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $491.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $457.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $423.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $500.76.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last quarter. 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.

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