Palisade Capital Management LP Purchases 299 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Palisade Capital Management LP increased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 82,300 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.9% of Palisade Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Palisade Capital Management LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price 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. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $517.10 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $503.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $441.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,350 shares of company stock worth $14,162,567. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.