Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. Has $3.66 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. cut its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,186 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 63 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.8% of Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 19,577 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,750,000 after buying an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 37,802 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,549 shares during the last quarter. Narwhal Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 157,138 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,233,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,699 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,888,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SFE Investment Counsel grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.2% during the second quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 18,379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,214,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.68.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $418.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $324.39 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $419.90 and a 200 day moving average of $424.55. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.26, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm 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 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders 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 represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.