Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Lane & Associates LLC

Lane & Associates LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,431 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,268 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.1% of Lane & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in Microsoft by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.72.

Microsoft Stock Down 6.2 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $414.99 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $432.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.95. 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 Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 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.