Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Raised by Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 138,693 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 637 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.3% of Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $61,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. &PARTNERS raised its holdings in Microsoft by 69.4% in the 1st quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 35,874 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,145,000 after purchasing an additional 14,691 shares during the period. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID now owns 13,224 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,564,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 73,566 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,234,000 after buying an additional 5,498 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.4% during the first quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 18,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,893,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the period. Finally, Unique Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 9,105 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,831,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $428.15 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $420.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $424.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $326.94 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.94.

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.