Jericho Financial LLP Has $6.36 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Jericho Financial LLP grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 13.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,947 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,068 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.6% of Jericho Financial LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Jericho Financial LLP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Newton One Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $533.50 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $488.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $434.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.11, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.49% and a net margin of 36.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Microsoft 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.