Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Community Bank N.A.

Community Bank N.A. lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,426 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 991 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.4% of Community Bank N.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Community Bank N.A.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $62,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’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. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three research 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $413.29 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $432.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

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.