Graves Light Lenhart Wealth Inc. Decreases Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Graves Light Lenhart Wealth Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,715 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 423 shares during the period. Graves Light Lenhart Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $45,000. Avondale Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $408.25 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $425.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $422.88.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

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.