Home Federal Bank of Tennessee Grows Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Home Federal Bank of Tennessee grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,191 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.9% of Home Federal Bank of Tennessee’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,160,020,000 after acquiring an additional 842,884 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,533 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,587,576,000 after buying an additional 45,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $505.43.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $447.27 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $424.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $427.61. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $364.13 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.