Lewis Asset Management LLC Grows Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Lewis Asset Management LLC has increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 40.1%, owning 14,145 shares valued at approximately $7 million, making it Microsoft's 5th largest holding for the fund.
• Institutional investors hold 71.13% of Microsoft's stock, with notable increases in holdings by firms such as Vanguard Group Inc. and Northern Trust Corp.
• Microsoft has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91, representing an increase from the previous dividend of $0.83, with a scheduled payment on December 11th.

Lewis Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 40.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,145 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 4,051 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.3% of Lewis Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Lewis Asset Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $519.71 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $512.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $464.83. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $617.63.

Microsoft 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.

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