Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by West Bancorporation Inc.

West Bancorporation Inc. decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,764 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 409 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.5% of West Bancorporation Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. West Bancorporation Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 380,840 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the second quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 101,344 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,296,000 after purchasing an additional 7,346 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.4% in the second quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 48,368 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $21,618,000 after buying an additional 1,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 15,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,839,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $439.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $366.50 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $427.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current 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 yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.