Lansing Street Advisors Grows Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Lansing Street Advisors increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,656 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.3% of Lansing Street Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Lansing Street Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 386.7% during the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Newton One Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $517.81 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $513.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $486.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.89%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Arete Research boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.67.

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.