Field & Main Bank Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Field & Main Bank lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,479 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 172 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 9.3% of Field & Main Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Field & Main Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 12,435 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,558,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,847 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,613,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 76.8% in the second quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC now owns 21,882 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,780,000 after buying an additional 9,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the second quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc now owns 13,832 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,182,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.95 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $380.38 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $428.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

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.