Sunflower Bank N.A. Decreases Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sunflower Bank N.A. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,263 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 0.9% of Sunflower Bank N.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Sunflower Bank N.A.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $423.46 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $420.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $426.55. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $362.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.