Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Decreased by First American Bank

First American Bank cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 198,665 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,252 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 6.1% of First American Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. First American Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $85,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,054 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,745,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Cavalier Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.2% in the third quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC now owns 11,859 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,103,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,455 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,790,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Pointe Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.4% during the third quarter. Pointe Capital Management LLC now owns 9,450 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,066,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,627 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,864,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price 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. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Three equities 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $439.33 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $427.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.69. The firm 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last three months. 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.