Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by City State Bank

City State Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,024 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,197 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.1% of City State Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. City State Bank's holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $113,399,000 after acquiring an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $32,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $5.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $410.36. The stock had a trading volume of 13,673,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,098,506. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $425.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $422.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,931,278.28. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820 over the last ninety days. 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.