Gardner Lewis Asset Management L P Has $13.46 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Gardner Lewis Asset Management L P cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 31,944 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 170 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.3% of Gardner Lewis Asset Management L P’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Gardner Lewis Asset Management L P’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its stake in Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $120,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $462.97 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $411.89 and a 200 day moving average of $415.62. The firm has a market cap of $3.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.13.

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.