Anchor Investment Management LLC Reduces Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Anchor Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,679 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,351 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.5% of Anchor Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Anchor Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $51,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.6% in the second quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 94,120 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373 shares in the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $457,119,000 after buying an additional 33,382 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $54,376,000 after acquiring an additional 40,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% in the second quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,930,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. HSBC increased their price target on Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective (down previously from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $632.34.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $478.53 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $504.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $502.65. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

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.