New Perspectives Inc Makes New $343,000 Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

New Perspectives Inc acquired a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 816 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $343,000. Microsoft accounts for 0.2% of New Perspectives Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 37,189 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,743,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. J2 Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.2% in the third quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc now owns 708 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 14.6% during the third quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC now owns 7,869 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the period. Finally, Northside Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 3.1% during the third quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 33,738 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,653,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Macquarie raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $7.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $406.32. 29,640,094 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,152,042. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $414.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $387.70. The firm has a market capitalization 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $295.25 and a 12-month high of $430.82.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

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.