Sittner & Nelson LLC Sells 54 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sittner & Nelson LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,995 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 54 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.0% of Sittner & Nelson LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Sittner & Nelson LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.2% in the second quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,453 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,119,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 3.3% during the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 10,266 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,586,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the period. First PREMIER Bank raised its stake in Microsoft by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 23,504 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,505,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corundum Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 19,092 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,533,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $380.38 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $428.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $427.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a PEG ratio of 2.37 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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 of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

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.