Comerica Bank Has $870.98 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Comerica Bank lessened its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,948,727 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 25,671 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.6% of Comerica Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $870,984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after buying an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,642,931,000 after buying an additional 2,744,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $846,072,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $423.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $421.11 and its 200 day moving average is $425.32. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

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.