Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,101 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,518 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.0% of Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Callan Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 37.6% during the third quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 23,557 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,137,000 after purchasing an additional 6,438 shares during the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 41,086 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,680,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 19,407 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,351,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 7.8% during the third quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,454 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,498,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares during the period. Finally, Ignite Planners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 24,002 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,328,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $417.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $362.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $421.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.