Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd.’s 8th Largest Position

Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 13.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,303 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,500 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.1% of Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $1,375,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $520.17 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.14, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $441.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,350 shares of company stock valued at $14,162,567. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.86.

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.