Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by First National Bank of Hutchinson

First National Bank of Hutchinson reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,424 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.1% of First National Bank of Hutchinson’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. First National Bank of Hutchinson’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $58,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its holdings in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $86,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.94.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $428.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $419.51 and a 200 day moving average of $424.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

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 represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total value of $7,157,129.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 150,161 shares in the company, valued at $61,843,807.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.