Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp Sells 1,640 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,050 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,640 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.6% of Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,386,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Monument Capital Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 31,264 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,756,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV now owns 19,980 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,513,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 143.5% during the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 384,058 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $144,421,000 after buying an additional 226,357 shares during the period. Garrison Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 3,711 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the period. Finally, Gimbal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,399,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. New Street Research initiated 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $435.27 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.03. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.69, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

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.