Lee Financial Co Sells 29 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lee Financial Co lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,059 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 29 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.0% of Lee Financial Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Lee Financial Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after buying an additional 49,735 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $367.78 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $388.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $412.78. The stock has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wedbush reduced their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $499.97.

About Microsoft

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.