First Citizens Financial Corp Purchases 93 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

First Citizens Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,338 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.7% of First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Centre Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 45,900 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,347,000 after buying an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. NRI Wealth Management LC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $2,873,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 115,610 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $48,730,000 after acquiring an additional 13,207 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Microsoft by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 35,205 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,839,000 after acquiring an additional 2,734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co of the South increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 19,411 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,182,000 after acquiring an additional 4,147 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $408.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $428.76 and its 200 day moving average is $422.94.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,931,278.28. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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.