Lesa Sroufe & Co Buys 4,526 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Lesa Sroufe & Co boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 22.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,804 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,526 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.2% of Lesa Sroufe & Co’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Lesa Sroufe & Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after buying an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after buying an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Bank of America assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $502.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $557.96.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $401.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $400.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $411.43.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly bullish ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report, with several firms still rating the stock Buy/Outperform even after trimming price targets. Microsoft Earnings Preview: Copilot, AI Spending and Margins Are in Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is being viewed as a top AI vendor, and Citi highlighted it as one of the leading players in the space, reinforcing the company’s AI leadership narrative. Citi Finds Microsoft (MSFT) as One of the Top AI Vendors
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with 3M to advance AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation, a sign of continued demand for its cloud and AI ecosystem. 3M and Microsoft announce strategic partnership to advance AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella’s push to emphasize Microsoft’s in-house AI models and lower-cost enterprise offerings suggests a more aggressive competitive strategy versus OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Microsoft is reportedly training salespeople to talk down OpenAI and Anthropic

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).