Lbp Am Sa Increases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lbp Am Sa raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,366,608 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 135,328 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 7.8% of Lbp Am Sa's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Lbp Am Sa's holdings in Microsoft were worth $576,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,334,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,243 shares of company stock worth $48,619,618. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2%

MSFT stock opened at $458.17 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $398.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $413.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. DA Davidson boosted 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. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $510.30.

About Microsoft

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.