Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by LFS Asset Management

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 17th, 2023

LFS Asset Management cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 35.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,643 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 7,085 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.0% of LFS Asset Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. LFS Asset Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 71.4% in the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 58.6% in the third 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 last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,687,699.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,767 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,111 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Guggenheim cut Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $212.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.58.

Microsoft Stock Up 4.1 %

Microsoft stock opened at $276.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $315.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $251.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.48 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th 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 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 30.22%.

About Microsoft

(Get Rating)

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.