Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Lessened by Trust Co. of Vermont

Trust Co. of Vermont lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 178,974 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 19,481 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.5% of Trust Co. of Vermont’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $67,301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,591,126,000 after acquiring an additional 277,881 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $448.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $418.19 and a 200 day moving average of $405.31. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $450.94.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. New Street Research assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price objective on the stock. Macquarie raised their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $465.83.

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.