LVZ Inc. Raises Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

LVZ Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 23.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,017 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the quarter. LVZ Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH now owns 4,844 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,821,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV now owns 5,095 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,916,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. BetterWealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. BetterWealth LLC now owns 5,137 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,932,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 24,937 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,377,000 after acquiring an additional 3,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Levy Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Levy Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 11,924 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,484,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Raymond James upped their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays upped their target price on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $409.06 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $414.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $387.09. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $275.37 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.