Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Centennial Bank AR

Centennial Bank AR reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,289 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 63 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.3% of Centennial Bank AR’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Centennial Bank AR’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $2,486,000. Pensioenfonds Rail & OV increased its stake in Microsoft by 30.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pensioenfonds Rail & OV now owns 135,047 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $60,359,000 after acquiring an additional 31,742 shares during the period. RiverFront Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 152,014 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $67,943,000 after buying an additional 10,574 shares in the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 156,322 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,683,000 after purchasing an additional 19,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $18,122,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $415.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The business’s fifty day moving average is $422.34 and its 200 day moving average is $425.53. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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.