Lakewood Asset Management LLC Purchases 840 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lakewood Asset Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,675 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.2% of Lakewood Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Lakewood Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the third quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the third quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 37,189 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,743,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.2% during the third quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc now owns 708 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Park Edge Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 14.6% in the third quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC now owns 7,869 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,484,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northside Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% in the third quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 33,738 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,653,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $7.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $406.32. 29,640,094 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,152,042. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $295.25 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $414.48 and its 200-day moving average is $387.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.