Bank of New Hampshire Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bank of New Hampshire lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,705 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 735 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.9% of Bank of New Hampshire’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 26,503 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,404,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. IMZ Advisory Inc lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.6% in the third quarter. IMZ Advisory Inc now owns 5,175 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,153,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. now owns 7,912 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,404,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 37,723 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,232,000 after acquiring an additional 805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Divergent Planning LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 92.0% during the third quarter. Divergent Planning LLC now owns 1,434 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 687 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’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 approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 completion of 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 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $414.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $422.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.05. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 24.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target 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. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.