Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,184 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,519 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.3% of Great Lakes Retirement Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Tanager Wealth Management LLP boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the third quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 22,694 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,767,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the period. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,142 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,073,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA now owns 12,985 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,587,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Finally, Axecap Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth $1,045,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $508.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $436.60. 54,224,020 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,730,301. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $427.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $428.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.