Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Sunflower Bank N.A.

Sunflower Bank N.A. trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,361 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 33 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 0.8% of Sunflower Bank N.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Sunflower Bank N.A.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 1,134 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the first quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 71,334 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $26,778,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the first quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 18,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,820,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Persium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.3% during the first quarter. Persium Advisors LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $883,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% during the first quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 71,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $26,705,000 after purchasing an additional 5,054 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.5%

MSFT opened at $498.25 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $500.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.50, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $461.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.48.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 30th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $524.71.

About Microsoft

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.