Lakeside Advisors INC. Sells 639 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Lakeside Advisors INC. cut its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 96,363 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 639 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 24.0% of Lakeside Advisors INC.'s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Lakeside Advisors INC.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $36,174,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 8,850 shares of company stock worth $4,406,512 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $504.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $506.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $445.18. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

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.

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