LifePro Asset Management Invests $417,000 in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 24th, 2023

LifePro Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,224 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $417,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129,708 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,554 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 200,523,373 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,810,889,000 after acquiring an additional 1,537,712 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $50,302,677,000 after acquiring an additional 556,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after acquiring an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $317.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $213.43 and a 52 week high of $366.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $330.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.53.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $337.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 31st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $340.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $411.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.03.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft

Microsoft Profile

(Free Report)

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.