Lewis Asset Management LLC Has $5.11 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lewis Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 19.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,869 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,823 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.7% of Lewis Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Lewis Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $428.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $427.53. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $380.38 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.