LRI Investments LLC Purchases Shares of 17,119 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 17,119 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $7,202,000. Microsoft accounts for about 1.0% of LRI Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 2,663 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Partnership Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,609,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,727,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 target price (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie upped their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $416.79 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $435.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $422.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.