Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Lowered by First Hawaiian Bank

First Hawaiian Bank trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,518 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 5,799 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.1% of First Hawaiian Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $35,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $445.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $450.94. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $419.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $406.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.83.

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.