FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Cuts Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 60,482 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,604 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.7% of FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after buying an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.3%

MSFT stock opened at $510.05 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $477.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.61. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $514.64. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.42, a PEG ratio of 2.32 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have 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 objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 target price (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% 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 valued at $60,224,683 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.