Center Lake Capital Management LLC Has $11.17 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Center Lake Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 42.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,000 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 21.7% of Center Lake Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Center Lake Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. New Harbor Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 25.7% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 250,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $112,031,000 after acquiring an additional 51,273 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank increased its holdings in Microsoft by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 81,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,427,000 after purchasing an additional 12,994 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 296.7% during the 1st quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Microsoft by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,104,454 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $904,441,000 after purchasing an additional 161,227 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $425.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $360.36 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $420.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.80. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.