Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Boosted by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 269,618 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 947 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.0% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $120,506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. New Harbor Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $550,086,000 after acquiring an additional 5,253 shares in the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 296.7% during the first quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 19.0% during the second quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 81,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,427,000 after purchasing an additional 12,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the first quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 12,521 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,268,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Argus raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $418.16 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $324.39 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $419.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $424.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.74%.

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.