Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Reduced by Shikiar Asset Management Inc.

Shikiar Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,456 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 410 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 5.0% of Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Newfound Research LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter. Newfound Research LLC now owns 296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Darrow Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $82,000. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 58.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 406 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 24,144 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.27, for a total transaction of $6,139,094.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 150,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,152,450.69. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $270.00 price target on the stock. Cowen cut their price target on Microsoft from $310.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 26th. Fundamental Research cut their price target on Microsoft to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $285.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price target on Microsoft from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.79.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2 %

MSFT opened at $242.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $241.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $249.53. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $213.43 and a 52 week high of $315.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $52.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 42.10% and a net margin of 34.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 9.51 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.31%.

Microsoft Profile

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Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.