Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Purchases 685 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 10th, 2023

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 35,682 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 685 shares during the quarter. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Good Life Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% in the second quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 54,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,396,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.0% in the second quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 10,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,665,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.6% in the first quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 1,518,749 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $437,855,000 after buying an additional 94,563 shares during the period. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.6% in the first quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 11,951 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,445,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Kalos Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at about $159,000. Institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. HSBC started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Friday, September 15th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $347.00 target price on the stock. Argus raised their price target on Microsoft from $371.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Microsoft from $335.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.34.

Get Our Latest Research Report on MSFT

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $329.82 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $366.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $324.87 and a 200-day moving average of $320.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $56.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.23 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.