First National Bank of Hutchinson Acquires 132 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

First National Bank of Hutchinson boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,635 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 132 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.6% of First National Bank of Hutchinson’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. First National Bank of Hutchinson’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sightline Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sightline Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Partners grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Stevens Capital Partners now owns 1,516 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,577 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,602,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 4,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,213,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV now owns 7,166 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,074,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. KeyCorp raised their target price on Microsoft from $340.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Microsoft from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Argus raised their target price on Microsoft from $371.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Barclays reduced their target price on Microsoft from $425.00 to $421.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, HSBC raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $347.00 to $413.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $384.34.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $360.53 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $219.35 and a 12 month high of $366.78. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $330.14 and a 200-day moving average of $327.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.52 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.31% and a return on equity of 38.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.11 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at $262,963,391.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at $262,963,391.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at $64,941,369.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.