First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown Acquires 184 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,489 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.5% of First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 29,696 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,778,000 after buying an additional 4,595 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 29,281 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,600,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. Hudson Value Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 11.2% during the third quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 30,161 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,978,000 after buying an additional 3,033 shares in the last quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 8.9% during the third quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,257 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 84,428 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen dropped their price target 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. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $428.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $427.53. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $380.38 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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