Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 555,100 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $205,481,000. Microsoft makes up 3.6% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Citigroup started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They set a “market outperform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $415.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 25th. China Renaissance lowered their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.86.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched Microsoft Frontier Company, a new $2.5 billion AI implementation business that will embed about 6,000 engineers, consultants and support specialists inside customer operations to speed enterprise AI adoption. Reuters: Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and commentary said the new AI unit reinforces Microsoft’s leadership in enterprise AI and could drive more Azure and Copilot usage, helping explain the stock’s strength. GeekWire: Microsoft announces $2.5B ‘Frontier Company’ to embed AI engineers inside customers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s enterprise AI momentum was also supported by a new five-year deal with Haleon to expand AI, cloud and data technology across the health company’s operations. MarketBeat: Meta’s AI Compute Push Could Turn Its Massive CapEx Bill Into a Competitive Weapon
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing another round of layoffs, potentially affecting thousands of workers in sales, consulting and Xbox, as it keeps pouring money into AI infrastructure. This may help costs over time, but it also highlights ongoing restructuring and margin pressure. Reuters: Microsoft partners with Singapore’s Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment is also being weighed by a securities fraud class action and related deadline reminders, which add legal uncertainty to the name. PRNewswire: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Shareholders Who Lost Money Have Opportunity to Lead Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $390.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $406.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $418.05.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).