TIAA Trust National Association Sells 13,524 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

TIAA Trust National Association cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 725,269 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 13,524 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.9% of TIAA Trust National Association’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $272,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. WJ Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. WJ Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,438 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,611,000 after buying an additional 528 shares during the period. Navalign LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 26.8% during the third quarter. Navalign LLC now owns 7,889 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,668 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.1% during the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 132,839 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,944,000 after acquiring an additional 11,068 shares during the period. Finally, Wade Financial Advisory Inc raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wade Financial Advisory Inc now owns 3,595 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James increased their target price on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $434.05.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $400.96 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $275.37 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $414.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $386.37. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The company’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company 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.