Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by American National Bank & Trust

American National Bank & Trust cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 98,998 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,245 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.0% of American National Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. American National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $42,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares during the period. Crew Capital Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 10,635 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,474,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 41,412 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares during the period. Finally, ETF Store Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.8% during the first quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 1,785 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $751,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One 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.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $415.00 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $422.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.00. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $362.90 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.