Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 26.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,248 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.3% of Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optas LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 25,001 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,996,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 44,418 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,652,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its stake in Microsoft by 199.7% in the 3rd quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 107,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,356,000 after acquiring an additional 71,769 shares during the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 41.9% in the 3rd quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 2,908 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $677,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $13,999,000. 69.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $313.85 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $294.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.44. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $213.43 and a 52-week high of $322.72. The company has a market cap of $2.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.00, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 1.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.25% and a return on equity of 38.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 29.47%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total transaction of $9,182,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,848 shares of company stock worth $16,635,227 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Microsoft from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Atlantic Securities boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.69.

Microsoft Profile

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.