Caldwell Trust Co Invests $37.14 Million in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Caldwell Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 74,659 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $37,136,000. Microsoft comprises 3.7% of Caldwell Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% during the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Arete Research increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Rothschild Redb cut shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $476.39 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $502.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $502.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.89%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.