Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. Purchases New Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,864 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,629,000. Microsoft comprises about 2.5% of Lakeshore Capital Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth 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 period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $2.84 during trading on Friday, hitting $477.40. 37,241,095 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,515,262. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $483.46. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $437.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $420.40.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.68.

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.