Lane & Associates LLC Has $5.78 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lane & Associates LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,431 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,268 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.1% of Lane & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% in the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 10,860 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,854,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 12,379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,533,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % 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 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.72.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $414.99 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $432.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $424.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

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.