Lewis Asset Management LLC Makes New $5.46 Million Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lewis Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,524 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $5,462,000. Microsoft makes up about 5.0% of Lewis Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,749,275,000 after buying an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,369,562,000 after buying an additional 88,583 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,620,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,353,488,000 after buying an additional 207,591 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.4 %

MSFT opened at $399.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.08, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $292.73 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $414.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $387.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.