Breakwater Investment Management Takes Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Breakwater Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 27,295 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $11,484,000. Microsoft comprises 5.3% of Breakwater Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Group AG raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.72.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3 %

MSFT opened at $416.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $435.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $422.82. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

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.