Thomasville National Bank Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Thomasville National Bank grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 184,599 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,374 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 5.1% of Thomasville National Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Thomasville National Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $69,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $503.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $506.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $471.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. 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 Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Wall Street Zen downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.14.

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.