First Community Trust NA Sells 88 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

First Community Trust NA lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,679 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 88 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 8.4% of First Community Trust NA’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. First Community Trust NA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $508.45 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $511.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $457.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

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.