Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 154.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 59,301 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,039 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.8% of Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 89.0% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $87,000. Cordant Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 647.8% during the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Family CFO Inc grew its position in Microsoft by 13.6% in the third quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $146,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Macquarie upped their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $397.84 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $413.76 and its 200 day moving average is $389.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $303.40 and a twelve month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,025,258 shares of company stock worth $12,160,356. Corporate 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.