Heartland Bank & Trust Co Has $7.77 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 20,667 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,869 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.3% of Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Family CFO Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% in the third quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Cordant Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 647.8% in the fourth quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $409.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $387.09. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $275.37 and a twelve month high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $434.05.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by 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.