Amarillo National Bank Buys 329 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Amarillo National Bank boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,294 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.3% of Amarillo National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Amarillo National Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Goldstein Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the third quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 10,304 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,434,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the period. AllGen Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. AllGen Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 14,932 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 215,116 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $92,565,000 after acquiring an additional 6,012 shares in the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 327,733 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $141,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,317,273 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,111,265,000 after purchasing an additional 52,447 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Mizuho increased their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $439.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $427.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $428.58. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 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. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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

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.