Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Lowered by Cincinnati Financial Corp

Cincinnati Financial Corp lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 642,250 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 273,000 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.0% of Cincinnati Financial Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Cincinnati Financial Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $276,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. First National Bank Sioux Falls raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,834,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. BCK Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $582,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,309,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,455,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 6,986 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,108,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $446.71 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $430.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $425.55. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.91 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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.