LVW Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

LVW Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 31,142 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,516 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.7% of LVW Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 205.9% during the first quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 28,506 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,993,000 after purchasing an additional 19,188 shares during the period. Finally, WealthTrust Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34.6% during the first quarter. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC now owns 10,069 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,236,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $422.99 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $421.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

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.