Montecito Bank & Trust Sells 32 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Montecito Bank & Trust lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,205 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 32 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.7% of Montecito Bank & Trust’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mivtachim The Workers Social Insurance Fund Ltd. Under Special Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $9,273,000. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,302 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,027,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. FCG Investment Co raised its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 30,818 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,990,000 after acquiring an additional 2,817 shares in the last quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 3,956 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $383.27 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $376.91 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $413.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $421.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho cut their target price 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.54.

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.