STAR Financial Bank Reduces Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

STAR Financial Bank lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,879 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,630 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.6% of STAR Financial Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. STAR Financial Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,821,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after buying an additional 97,075 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Microsoft by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after buying an additional 1,563,533 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 20,957,770 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,018,128,000 after buying an additional 57,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 18,388,106 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,912,402,000 after acquiring an additional 251,408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $434.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $431.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $425.30. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 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.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.66.

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.