Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is LaFleur & Godfrey LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• LaFleur & Godfrey LLC has reduced its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4%, making the stock its 2nd largest position at approximately $43.6 million.
• CEO Satya Nadella sold over 149,000 shares recently, decreasing his position by nearly 16%, while Microsoft recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.83 to $0.91.
• Various analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with the average target now at $617.63, reflecting strong confidence in the stock's performance.

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,740 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,228 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.5% of LaFleur & Godfrey LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $43,643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $515.74 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $512.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $465.70. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $617.63.

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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