Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Grows Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 42,586 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,412 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.1% of Great Lakes Retirement Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,986,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $548.36.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were 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 owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% 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 valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.9%

MSFT traded up $4.35 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $510.22. 4,173,165 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,190,793. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $514.64. The stock's 50-day moving average is $481.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $430.27. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.43, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during 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 firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.