Stewart Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 1st, 2023

Stewart Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 37.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,747 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,845 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.9% of Stewart Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Stewart Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optas LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 25,001 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,996,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 44,418 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,652,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd lifted its stake in Microsoft by 199.7% in the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 107,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,356,000 after purchasing an additional 71,769 shares during the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 41.9% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,999,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.9 %

MSFT opened at $328.39 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.93. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $335.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $299.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $266.80.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 29.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Microsoft from $340.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Credit Suisse Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $350.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Microsoft from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Microsoft from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $329.01.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.87, for a total value of $1,584,350.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 89,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,305,363.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,081 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.54, for a total transaction of $1,588,015.74. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 94,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,481,273.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.87, for a total value of $1,584,350.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 89,328 shares in the company, valued at $28,305,363.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,081 shares of company stock valued at $15,448,816 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.