Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Trimmed by Park National Corp OH

Park National Corp OH reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 328,782 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 22,848 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.3% of Park National Corp OH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $138,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $86,000. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $87,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 price target (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $465.83.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $446.34 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $418.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $405.81. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $450.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. Corporate 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.