Lantz Financial LLC Sells 2,581 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lantz Financial LLC trimmed its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,630 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,581 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.4% of Lantz Financial LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Lantz Financial LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth 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. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.43.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MSFT opened at $492.27 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $444.31 and a 200 day moving average of $421.40. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $494.56. The firm has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for 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 business's quarterly 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 forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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