Lafayette Investments Inc. Purchases 479 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lafayette Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,597 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 479 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.6% of Lafayette Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, Bellevue Group AG lifted its position in Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $415.84 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $417.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.74. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $324.39 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.47.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.