Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 349,860 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,618 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.7% of Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $131,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price target (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $538.04.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Stock Performance
Shares of MSFT stock opened at $505.62 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.07, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $474.88 and its 200 day moving average is $427.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $508.30.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 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 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.
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.
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