M&T Bank Corp Sells 38,166 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

M&T Bank Corp cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,391,500 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 38,166 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.4% of M&T Bank Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,029,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Unigestion Holding SA grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.5% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 189,607 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $81,540,000 after purchasing an additional 40,890 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 15,080 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,489,000 after buying an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 1,555,094 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $669,157,000 after buying an additional 140,843 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 146,290 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $62,949,000 after acquiring an additional 5,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Line Retirement Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Main Line Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 2,616 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,126,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $409.04 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $430.67 and its 200 day moving average is $423.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 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 given 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 yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540. Company 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.