Lafayette Investments Inc. Has $13.58 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,173 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 418 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.9% of Lafayette Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $522.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $496.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $438.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.27, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.86.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.