Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Lowered by First National Corp MA ADV

First National Corp MA ADV decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,675 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 780 shares during the period. First National Corp MA ADV’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $35,920,047,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $5,587,119,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $4,000,376,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 277.8% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,004,341 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,633,912,000 after purchasing an additional 5,150,160 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $417.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $431.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $422.97. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho boosted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, New Street Research began coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $494.72.

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.