Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. Invests $97,000 in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 335 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $97,000. Microsoft accounts for about 0.1% of Alapocas Investment Partners Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Gleason Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 111.7% during the 1st quarter. Gleason Group Inc. now owns 199 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Syverson Strege & Co grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 157.0% in the 1st quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 203 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,000. Institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $232.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 20th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Microsoft from $350.00 to $415.00 in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $373.68.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $329.91 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $213.43 and a 52 week high of $366.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $332.58 and a 200-day moving average of $309.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $56.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 17th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 28.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at $198,301,924.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,049 shares of company stock valued at $38,195,619 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.